Cyclone Amphan has gathered strength and is expected to intensify into an “extremely severe cyclonic storm” in the next six hours, the Indian Meteorological Body (IMD) said in its latest bulletin on Monday (May 18). According to IMD, cyclone Amphan would cross the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on May 20 and before making a landfall, the intensity of Amphan would be of a Super Cyclone.
“It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and move fast across northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts between Digha and Hatiya Islands during 09:00-12:00 pm of 20th May, 2020, as a very severe cyclonic storm,” the bulletin read.
According to IMD, coastal Odisha would receive light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy falls at isolated places from Monday evening. Odisha government has advised the fishermen not to venture into north Bay of Bengal along and off West Bengal-Odisha coasts from May 18 to 21.
"Cyclone Amphan in Bay of Bengal, intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm at 2:30 AM today. It is expected to further intensify into a super cyclonic storm in the next 12 hours. It will move towards north-northeast direction and cross Digha (West Bengal)-Hathiya island (Bangladesh) on the afternoon/evening of 20th May with a wind speed of 155-165 kmph," Mrutyunjaya Mohapatra, IMD director general told ANI.
In West Bengal's East Midnapore district, NDRF was seen making announcements asking people to stay indoors. Digha is the place which falls between the spot of the landfall that will take place on May 20, between Digha in Bengal and Hatiya in Bangladesh. Similar action is taking place in Sagar Island and Kakdwip.
NDRF making announcements asking people in West Bengal's Digha to stay indoors in wake of Cyclone Amphanhttps://t.co/EuUL677yqS#CycloneAmphan#WestBengal pic.twitter.com/gNUMhdlGOz
— Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) May 18, 2020
A total of 17 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in West Bengal and Odisha. While seven teams have been deployed in six districts of West Bengal—South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Howrah and Hooghly, 10 teams have been deployed in seven districts of Odisha—Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a high level meeting with MHA and NDMA on Monday at 4 pm to review the arising cyclone situation in various parts of the country.
