Cyclone Amphan Likely To Make Landfall In Bengal Today, Kolkata Airport Shut, NDRF Teams Deployed

Strong winds and heavy rains lashed parts of West Bengal and Odisha on Wednesday morning as super cyclone Amphan hurtled towards the east coast. The cyclone is likely to make a landfall in Bengal between Wednesday afternoon and evening.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), cyclone Amphan will cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha (WB) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans during the afternoon to evening hours of May 20.

"Cyclone Amphan over Bay of Bengal near latitude 18.4°N & longitude 87.1°E, about 210 km nearly south of Paradip (Odisha). To cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha (WB)& Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans during the afternoon to evening hours of 20th May," the IMD said in a tweet.

The IMD said that the current intensity of super cyclone Amphan near the center is 170-180 kilometre per hour and gusting to 200 kilometre per hour.

More than four lakh people have been evacuated to safe places in both the states.

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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 here

(With inputs from agencies)