Cyclone Amphan Crossing Bengal; High-speed Wind, Damage Expected In Kolkata

Cyclone Amphan is currently crossing the West Bengal coast near the Sunderbans and will reach near Kolkata by evening, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said on Wednesday as the storm was making a landfall.

He said strong winds with an intensity of 160 kilometres per hour have commenced in coastal West Bengal districts.

The landfall process of cyclone 'Amphan' commenced at 2.30 pm on Wednesday between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya island in Bangladesh, the Met department said. India is also issuing cyclone warning to Bangladesh.

The landfall process will continue for about four hours, the Met said.

"We are hopeful that by 7 PM the entire cyclone will enter the land," Mohapatra added.

The forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land in West Bengal, according to  the Met.

Wind speed in Kolkata and adjoining districts likely to be 110-120 kmph and a lot of damage is expected, IMD said around 5 pm. The cyclone will reach the state capital by evening. South and North 24 Parganas will witness a lull as eye of the cyclone passes through, but heavy rains, strong winds will resume in 30 minutes, the Met department added.

The intensity of the cyclone near its centre as the landfall process started was recorded at 160-170 kmph, gusting to 190 kmph, it said.

The system is likely to move north-northeastwards after landfall and pass close to Kolkata in its eastern side causing extensive damage and flooding of low-lying areas of the city, the Met department warned. 

More than four lakh people have been evacuated to safe places in both Odisha and West Bengal.

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Kolkata Airport Shut, NDRF Teams Deployed

Cargo and evacuation flight operations at the Kolkata airport have been suspended till 5 am Thursday due to the cyclonic storm. Meanwhile, the Eastern Railway (ER) has cancelled the departure of Howrah-New Delhi AC Special Express for Wednesday.

South Bengal districts like West Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly, and Kolkata will also experience heavy rain during the cyclonic spell -- one of the worst storms over the Bay of Bengal since 1999.

West Bengal disaster management authorities are keeping a close watch on the situation. A control room has been opened at the state Secretariat Nabanno.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has formed a task force spearheaded by Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, which will monitor relief-and-rescue operations during cyclone Amphan.

Reports said that at least seven National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in six West Bengal districts including East Midnapore, West Midnapore, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah.

At least 12 NDRF teams have also been kept on standby as the cyclonic storm is likely to hit a large part of the coastal districts with "very heavy rainfall".

Odisha

In Odisha, heavy downpour coupled with high velocity winds pounded coastal districts, uprooting trees and flattening fragile structures.

More than 1.25 lakh people have so far been evacuated from low-lying coastal areas and the process of evacuation was still underway in some places like Balasore on Wednesday morning, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), P K Jena,  said

Intense rainfall was recorded in several areas of Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Ganjam, Ganjam, Bhadrak and Balasore districts since Tuesday, officials said.

There are reports of many trees being uprooted from different areas including Erasama and Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.

Many betel vines have also been damaged in Dhinkia area of Jagatsinghpur district, the SRC said, adding response teams have been deployed in all the coastal districts to ensure quick restoration of power and road communication wherever they suffer damage.

The cyclone comes a year after Fani barreled through vast parts of Odisha on May 3, claiming at least 64 lives and destroying power, telecom and other vital infrastructure. 

Follow live updates on Cyclone Amphan

(With inputs from agencies)