Amphan shadow over North Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: Amphan, this year’s maiden cyclone, turned monstrous over the Bay of Bengal as it intensified into a super cyclonic storm on Monday and continued its northward journey over the sea. So far, it has stayed clear of Odisha.

Almost 650 km south of Paradip, it was moving at a speed of about six nautical mile and headed towards West Bengal-Bangladesh coast, keeping a safe distance from Odisha but on the way, its large cloud band and wind radii could impact north coastal districts by inducing strong wind and pounding rains.India Meteorological Department said the system will move northwards for some time and then north-northeastwards across north-west Bay of Bengal.

“It is likely to cross WB-Bangladesh between Digha and Hatiya Island close to Sundarbans by Wednesday evening as an extremely severe cyclonic storm with wind speed gusting up to 185 km per hour,” said IMD, Odisha, Director HR Biswas.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said satellite imagery showed an expansive system spanning 600 nautical miles that  continued to consolidate. “The cyclone has also maintained a sharply-outlined 10 nautical mile round eye,” it said.

The cyclone, it said, is in a favorable environment with moderate vertical wind shear. Amphan will continue to track generally northward in the Bay of Bengal along the western periphery and favourable conditions will continue to promote further intensification to a peak of 150 knots over the next 12 hours. However, as it approaches the land, increasing vertical wind shear will begin to weaken the system down to 85 knots by Wednesday just after landfall south of Kolkata.

Wind speed may reach 95 km per hour along and off north Odisha coast on Wednesday morning. Thereafter, wind speed gusting up to 135 km will prevail in the same region, Biswas said.Under its influence, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts will experience heavy rainfall and strong winds reaching a speed of 120 km. Many other coastal districts would report rain and squally weather over the next two days.

The IMD issued an orange warning for Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts and heavy rainfall at one or two places in Khurda, Puri and Cuttack districts during the same period. Fishermen have been advised against venturing into the sea while tidal surge is predicted too.