Personnel of the NDRF were deployed on Sunday in West Bengal and Odisha, which said it was ready to undertake massive evacuation of 11 lakh people likely to be severely hit by the cyclone ‘Amphan’, officials said.
The cyclone, according to an IMD report, has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal. It is likely to make landfall somewhere between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya Islands in Bangladesh on Wednesday.
“The trajectory is mostly towards West Bengal, Sagar Islands and probably towards Bangladesh…. But we have to watch the trajectory very closely. NDRF has deployed the teams well in advance. They are either deployed or moving towards the destination,” S N Pradhan, the chief of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said in New Delhi.
LISTED ARE 10 DEVELOPMENTS ON CYCLONE AMPHAN
1. As cyclone Amphan rolls in towards the Indian shores ominously, it is likely to unleash heavy rain and high-velocity winds in large swathes of coastal Odisha and West Bengal.
2. It is likely to cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Sagar Islands in West Bengal and Hatiya islands in Bangladesh between afternoon and evening of May 20 as a very severe cyclonic storm, Regional MeT Director in Kolkata GK Das said.
3. Odisha, which has been ravaged by a string of cyclones over the last few years, including the cyclone Fani last year, has made arrangements to shift 11 lakh people from vulnerable areas, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said.
4. On Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s direction, the district collectors of Ganjam, Gajapti, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda and Nayagarh have been asked to remain alert.
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