Super cyclone Amphan was moving at the speed of 14 kmph and lay 570 km south of Odisha’s Paradip and 720 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal as of 2.30 am on Tuesday, the Indian Expressreported.
The Indian Met Department said Amphan was very likely to weaken into an extremely severe cyclonic storm in the next few hours.
Cyclone Amphan is only the second super cyclone over the Bay of Bengal after the one that savaged Odisha in 1999, claiming nearly 10,000 lives.
Odisha’s Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said the state’s evacuation exercise will be completed on Tuesday. People living within five km of the coastline and in vulnerable areas are being evacuated.
On Monday, the Meteorological (MeT) Department had issued an “orange message” for West Bengal, warned of extensive damage in Kolkata, Hooghly, Howrah, South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts and disruption of rail and road link at several places.
Bengal’s coastal districts Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall at many places, and heavy falls at isolated places. In Odisha, very to very heavy rainfall is expected in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj, while isolated heavy falls are expected in Khordha and Puri districts, the IMD has forecast.
Official reports reaching Kolkata said 40,000 people have already been evacuated from South 24 Parganas district, Press Trust of India reported late Monday night.
“Storm surge of 4 to 5 metres above astronomical tide is likely to inundate low lying areas of South and North 24 Parganas and about 3 to 4 metres over low lying areas of East Midnapore district of West Bengal during the time of landfall,“IMD’s Regional Director G K Das in Kolkata said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata that NDRF and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel were in a state of readiness to evacuate those who will be hit by the cyclone and also to reach relief.
“We will be monitoring the situation for cyclone ‘Amphan’ 24X7. Chief secretary Rajiva Sinha, Home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and secretary disaster management will be monitoring the situation,” she told reporters.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has set a target of ensuring zero casualty. Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said the government is closely monitoring the situation and is in constant touch with 12 coastal districts to ensure foolproof arrangements.
Odisha Panchayati Raj Minister Pratap Jena said the state is prepared to evacuate 11 lakh to 12 lakh people. Jena said it will be done by strictly adhering to social distancing guidelines for COVID-19 pandemic.
Pregnant women and ailing people will be shifted to hospitals, the SRC said.
Since the cyclone will take place in summer there is no fear of floods but several reservoirs have been asked to release water as precautionary measure, he added.
The cyclone, expected to make landfall on Wednesday (May 20), comes as India eases the world’s longest lockdown, imposed in April against the novel coronavirus, which has infected more than 96,169 people and killed 3,029.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting in New Delhi, the capital, to plan how to mitigate damage and injuries.
Reuters reported India’s coastline gets hit by more than a tenth of all the world’s tropical cyclones, the bulk of them hitting the eastern coast around the Bay of Bengal.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters)