Amphan is only the 2nd “super cyclone” to form in the northeastern Indian Ocean since records began. It is going to make a Landfall in a few hours.
Bhubaneshwar| Heavy rain and strong wind battered coastal Odisha districts as the super cyclone Amphan hurtled towards the coast on Wednesday morning.
Trees were uprooted and power infrastructure suffered damage following strong wind. The port town of Paradip recorded the highest wind speed of 106 kmph followed by Chandbali with 74 kmph, Balasore 59 kmph and Bhubaneswar 56 kmph.
Kolkata, which is close to the coast, is on alert. The airport in Bengal’s capital has been shut till 5 am tomorrow. Early morning visuals showed winds and heavy rain in South 24 Paraganas in Bengal. Seven districts of Bengal are likely to face the direct impact of the cyclone.
On May 20 evening, Super cyclone Amphan will make landfall on West Bengal coast as an extremely severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds up to 195 kmph, said Central government on Monday.
“Amphan is now a ‘super cyclone’ and it is a serious issue, the only other cyclone of this magnitude was in Odisha in 1999 and it was very deadly,” said National Disaster Response Force DG S.N. Pradhan.
The most intense recorded tropical cyclone in the North Indian Ocean and amongst the most deadly in the region was the cyclone in Odisha in 1999.
The database indicates that 10,915 people were killed as a result of the high-intensity cyclone. However, other estimations intimated that the deaths may have been as high as 30,000.
Pradhan said that on May 20, when super cyclone makes landfall it will be an extremely severe cyclonic storm.
“Cyclone ‘Amphan’ will cause heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in coastal districts of West Bengal. West Bengal districts of East Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata are likely to be worst affected by the cyclone,” said Centre.
At least 40 National Disaster Response Force teams have been deployed on the ground while 12 others are ready in reserve. An additional 24 teams are also on standby in other parts of the nation. The Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Fire Services have also been deployed to curb the situation.
India is already in the middle highly contagious novel coronavirus outbreak while preparing for another destruction stepping towards her.
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