Super cyclonic storm Amphan is very likely to weaken into an extremely severe cyclonic storm in the next six hours before it hits West Bengal tomorrow, the Met department said this morning. It is likely to reach Bengal’s Digha and an island in Bangladesh close to the Sunderbans by tomorrow afternoon or evening.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a meeting with top officials to review the response measures and preparedness to tackle Cyclone Amphan.
Amphan, pronounced as um-pun, had intensified into a super cyclonic storm on Monday and as of 5:30 this morning, it was about 520 km away from the Odisha coast in Paradip and 670 km from Bengal’s Digha.
When it hits the Bengal tomorrow, Amphan will still pack winds of up to 180 kmph.
The weather office has forecast heavy rain in parts of Bengal and Odisha today and tomorrow.
Cyclone Amphan is likely to lead to rough sea conditions. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea off the coasts of Bengal and Odisha till Thursday.
32 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are on duty in Odisha and Bengal. 21 teams have been kept on standby.
India Meteorological Department Director General M Mohapatra had said that Cyclone Amphan is a very intense storm which can cause large-scale damage.
Officials are readying shelters ahead of the landfall amid the coronavirus crisis and fears of the virus spreading in the shelters. More than two lakh people in low-lying areas will be moved from their homes in West Bengal by today, state minister Manturam Pakhira told news agency AFP.
An official at Odisha’s cyclone control room said shelters would be prepared for up to 1.1 million people, although the area is expected to escape the brunt of the storm and less than 10 percent of capacity would likely be used.
The super cyclonic storm is being continuously tracked by the Met department’s Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam.
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