Amphan now a ‘super cyclone’; landfall on West Bengal coast on Wednesday evening

“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.

“When ‘Amphan’ makes landfall on May 20 it will be an extremely severe cyclonic storm,” aid Pradhan.

“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 cyclone,” said government.

The cyclonic storm is also likely to impact North Odisha coastal districts including Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Balasore districts.

Cyclone ‘Amphan’ has potential to cause extensive damage in coastal districts of West Bengal: govt

The India Meteorological Department has warned of storm surge of 4-6 meter height above astronomical tide and will inundate low lying coastal areas of WB during landfall.

The SUPER CYCLONE ‘AMPHAN’ over west-central Bay of Bengal, lay centered at 1730 hrs IST of today, the 18 th May, 2020 over west-central Bay of Bengal near latitude 14.0°N and longitude 86.3 °E, about 700 km nearly south of Paradip (Odisha). pic.twitter.com/Y9Kte4hHc1

— India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 18, 2020

Super Cyclone AMPHAN is likely to make landfall between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans as an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm with maximum sustained wind 165-175 kmph gusting to 195 kmph in the afternoon/evening of 20th May. pic.twitter.com/Hvb6ORU1Sv

— India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 18, 2020

#CycloneUpdate
Latest Satellite Picture of Super Cyclone #CycloneAmphan pic.twitter.com/3yQtexEAto

— India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 18, 2020

PM Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level meeting today to review the response measures against cyclone ‘Amphan’ developing in the Bay of Bengal. PM took full stock of the situation and reviewed the response preparedness as well as the evacuation plan presented by the NDRF.

“During the presentation of the response plan, DG NDRF (SN Pradhan) informed that 25 NDRF teams have been deployed on the ground while 12 others are ready in reserve. Twenty-four other NDRF teams are also on standby in different parts of the country,” the statement said.

The prime minister said he “reviewed the preparedness regarding the situation due to cyclone ‘Amphan’. The response measures as well as evacuation plans were discussed.”