Cyclone Yaas Landfall In Odisha Tomorrow, Kolkata Airport To Suspend Ops

Around 1.4 million people in Odisha and half a million people in Bengal have been evacuated from their homes. Officials said it has been a challenge to provide them accommodation while maintaining social distancing.

New Delhi: Cyclone Yaas has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and will make landfall between Dhamra Port and Balasore on the Odisha coast at noon tomorrow with wind speed of upto 185 km per hour. It is expected to pass over Bengal too.

Here are the Top 10 points in this big story:

  1. The cyclone is very likely to cross north Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar Island, met office chief M Mohapatra has told NDTV. It is currently located around 220 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha). It is very likely to move north-northwest and intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm over the next 12 hours.

  2. The maximum wind speed of Yaas is expected to be up to 185 km per hour between 5.30 and 11.30 am along the north Odisha coast as the cyclone approaches the land.

  3. Around 1.4 million people in Odisha and half a million people in Bengal have been evacuated from their homes. Officials said it has been a challenge to provide them accommodation while maintaining social distancing.

  4. National Disaster Management Authority member Kamal Kishore told NDTV that they have advised hospitals and  healthcare organisations to make contingency arrangements for power and oxygen supply.

  5. Odisha's districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts are likely to be affected.

  6. In Bengal, the districts of West Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas -- and state capital Kolkata -- may experience storm with wind speeds of up to 120 km per hour.

  7. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced she will stay at the state secretariat tonight to monitor the rescue and relief operation. Governor Jagdeep Dhankar visited the secretariat in the evening.

  8. Flight operations at Kolkata airport will be suspended from 8:30 am to 7:45 pm of May 26, reported news agency ANI quoting airport administration.  

  9. NDRF chief SN Pradhan said a record 115 teams have been deployed across five states and one Union Territory. In Bengal, along with National Disaster Response Force teams, 54,000 officers and relief workers, 2 lakh police and Home Guard personnel, will be deployed.

  10. While conditions in Bay of Bengal -- including high surface temperature of water -- are conducive for cyclones, experts attributed their increasing frequency and intensity to climate change. The super cyclone of 1999 had killed around 10,000 people in Odisha.



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