Cyclone Amphan to turn severe, Orissa and West Bengal on alert

West Bengal and Orissa are on high alert as the Meteorological Department has forecasted cyclone alert named as AMPHAN.

Cyclone Amphan is likely to intensify into severe storm overnight, says the weather office. It is expected to make a landfall in Bengal on Wednesday.

“The very severe cyclonic storm ‘AMPHAN’ over central parts of South Bay of Bengal moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 13 kmph during past six hours, intensified into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm,” a statement by the India Meteorological Department or IMD read.

The storm is likely to “further intensify” over the next six hours, it said, adding that the cyclone is “very likely to move north-northeastwards and move fast across northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal – Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) during the afternoon or evening of May 20 (Wednesday)” as a “very severe cyclonic storm”.

Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’ with Eye Pattern: 18th May 2020 (0730 to 0750 IST) pic.twitter.com/GAhQO3tGTz

— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) May 18, 2020

In Odisha, 17 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are on duty. The state, which was hit by Cyclone Fani last year, has made arrangements to shift 11 lakh people from vulnerable areas, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Jena was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The situation is being closely monitored in 12 coastal districts: Ganjam, Gajapti, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda and Nayagarh.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into north Bay of Bengal along and off West Bengal-Odisha coasts till Wednesday.

West Bengal Home secretary Alapan Bandopdhyay said that the entire state machinery is prepared to deal with the situation. Disaster management teams were dispatched to cyclone shelters in the coastal areas and other places for rescue and relief operations where social distancing norms will be strictly followed, he said, due to COVID-19 pandemic.

On Saturday, the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) met under Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba to review the preparedness for minimising the loss of lives and property at a time when the country is fighting coronavirus, PTI reported.