Forty-one teams of the National Disaster Response Force, including seven reserves, have been deployed in West Bengal and Odisha in view of the super cyclonic storm 'Amphan' which has now weakened into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm.

NDRF chief S N Pradhan said on Tuesday that Cyclone Amphan is a second disaster coming in the time of already prevailing COVID-19, hence preparations have been made to that scale.

"A total of 41 NDRF teams, including reserves, are deployed in two Amphan-affected states of Odisha and West Bengal," he said.

Fifteen NDRF teams are deployed and five in reserve in seven districts of Odisha while 19 teams actively deployed and two in reserve in six West Bengal districts, he said.

The Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm `AMPHAN' (pronounced as UM-PUN) over Westcentral Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwards with a speed of 17 kmph during past 06 hours and lay centred at 1730 hrs 1ST of May 19, Indin Meteorological Department said in an update. 

It lay centred over Westcentral and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal, about 320 km nearly south of Paradip (Odisha), 470 km south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal) and 610 km south-southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh), it added. 

It is very likely to move north-northeastwards across northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal — Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans during Afternoon to Evening hours of 20th May 2020 with maximum sustained wind speed of 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph, IMD said. 

The system is now being continuously tracked by the Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Paradip (Odisha) and Gopalpur (Odisha), iyt further said. 

Light rain was witnessed in several areas of Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Khurda districts of Odisha, and the intensity of rainfall and wind speed was likely to increase gradually, a Met official said.

Light to moderate rainfall was witnessed at most places of coastal Odisha with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and BhadrakDistricts and isolated heavyfalls over Jajpur, Balasore, Cuttack, Mayurbhanj, Khordha and Puri districts on Tuesday. Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Odisha -Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Keonjhargarh Districts is expected on May 20. 

In West Bengal, East Medinipur, South & North 24 Parganas experienced light to moderate rainfall at many places. Rainfall intensity is likely to increase gradually and become maximum on Wednesday. Rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places & extremely heavy falls at isolated places likely over Gangetic West Bengal's east & west Medinipur, south & north 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogli, Kolkata and adjoining districts on May 20 and isolated heavy rain over interior districts on Wednesday, IMD said. 

Indian Navy has also dispatched a diving team to Kolkata to provide assistance to the state government in relief operations. The diving team was flown in from Vizag by an Indian Navy Dornier and has reached Kolkata at noon on Wednesday. The team has brought specialised equipment along with them which can be used in case of rescue if flooding occurs and have been positioned at the Naval Service Selection Board at Diamond Harbour. An additional diving team has been kept standby at Chilka for quick repositioning if situation demands.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee people have been warned not to go to even closer to the beach. All DMs, SPs, CPs have been instructed in this regard, she said, adding that over 3 lakh people have been evacuated and taken to shelter homes from various coastal districts. 

Railways has been asked to stop the movement of trains, Mamata said.