Cyclone AMPHAN: In Odisha, 12 districts are under a close watch: Ganjam, Gajapti, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda and Nayagarh. Seventeen teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are on duty.
New Delhi, May 18:
Cyclone Amphan, which turned in to an extremely severe storm overnight, is likely to intensify further to a super cyclone, the weather office has said. Two states- Bengal and Odisha – have been alerted over the cyclonic storm, which is expected to make a landfall in Bengal on Wednesday.
This morning, the India Meteorological Department or IMD said that Amphan had turned into an “Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm”. “The very severe cyclonic storm ‘AMPHAN’ (pronounced as UM-PUN) over central parts of South Bay of Bengal moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 13 kmph during past six hours, intensified into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm,” a statement by the IMD read.
Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’: 18th May 2020 (1000 to 1027 IST). Likely to intensify further as Super Cyclone. pic.twitter.com/iJK0RVpQtY
— India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 18, 2020
The storm is likely to “further intensify” over the next six hours, it said, adding that the cyclone is “very likely to move north-northeastwards and move fast across northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal – Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) during the afternoon or evening of May 20 (Wednesday)” as a “very severe cyclonic storm”.
A yellow alert, which is issued at least 48 hours in advance of the expected commencement of adverse weather, has been sounded in the coastal parts of Bengal and Odisha.
In Odisha, 12 districts are under a close watch: Ganjam, Gajapti, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda and Nayagarh. The state was hit by Cyclone Fani last year.
Seventeen teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are on duty in both the states.
