3 lakh shifted in Bengal as Amphan closes in

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 19

Amphan will make the landfall tomorrow as an “Extremely Severe Cyclone”, the IMD today said, reiterating its warning for extensive damage in coastal parts of West Bengal and north Odisha.

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 The authorities have reportedly evacuated 3 lakh persons from West Bengal and 1 lakh from Odisha. Its intensity is expected to uproot communication and power poles, disrupt rail and road links in many places and cause extensive damage to standing crops, plantations and orchards in the two states

To put things in perspective, Cyclone Fani last year and Phailin (the most intense cyclone after the 1999 Odisha “Super Cyclone”) in 2013 also belonged to the category of “Extremely Severe Cyclone(s)”. Experts are relating the intensity Amphan acquired over the sea to achieve the status of “Super Cyclone” to global warming and abnormally warm SSTs (sea surface temperatures). Amphan, they say, is a result of abnormally warm SSTs prevailing in the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, the cyclone is expected to make a landfall between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans tomorrow afternoon/evening with maximum sustained wind speed of 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph, the IMD said.

Amphan was accorded the highest “Super Cyclone” category on Monday. On Tuesday, it moved across the Bay at the speed of 18 kmph. Predicting widespread rain/thundershowers are expected over north Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim and other Northeastern states over the next two three days, the IMD has forecast very heavy rain over West Bengal tomorrow. While Fani too caused extensive damage in Odisha last year, claiming several lives, the number of those who lost lives was much less than during Phailin because of preparedness of agencies concerned, say officials, pointing to the praise India earned from international organisations for government and volunteer efforts that ensured levels of destruction during Fani to minimum.  

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