Cyclone Amphan weakens into 'extremely severe' category, rain lashes several parts of Odisha

IE | Express Web Desk | New Delhi |May 19, 2020: Super cyclone ‘Amphan’ weakened into an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Tuesday as it moved closer to the coast, triggering rainfall in several parts of Odisha, where the state government stepped up efforts to evacuate people in vulnerable areas.

The storm lay centred over the west-central Bay of Bengal, about 420 km south of Paradip (Odisha), 570 km south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal) and 700 km south-southwest of Khepupara in Bangladesh, said H R Biswas, the director of Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar. Under its impact, light rain was witnessed in several areas of Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Khurda districts of Odisha, and the intensity of rainfall and wind speed was likely to increase gradually, a Met official said.

Earlier today, NDRF chief SN Pradhan in a media briefing said that a total of 41 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in West Bengal and Odisha to deal with any emergency situation arising out of Super Cyclone Amphan. IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said since the super cyclone is gradually weakening, its impact is unlikely to be very severe on Odisha.

Agencies: Amphan is the most intense cyclone - the second super cyclone - which has been formed in the Bay of Bengal after 1999. The Met department has warned of extensive damage in Kolkata, Hooghly, Howrah, South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts.Super Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’ is very likely to cross West Bengal – Bangladesh coasts between Digha and Hatiya Islands close to Sundarbans on 20 May with max wind speed of 155-165 kmph.

The super cyclonic storm Amphan over Westcentral and adjoining Eastcentral Bay of Bengal moved nearly north-northeastwards with a speed of 14 kmph during the past six hours.