ODISHA: Already world is grappling with effects of a global pandemic, South Asia is now confronting another major cause for concern: Cyclone Amphan, a storm of historic scale, is churning over the Bay of Bengal and about to bear down on the coastal regions bordering Bangladesh and India.
In the major development, India and Bangladesh has evacuated around half a million people out of the way of the most powerful storm in a decade ahead of its landfall on Wednesday amid fears of heavy damage to houses and crops and disruption of road, rail and power links.
Approaching from the Bay of Bengal, Amphan is expected to make the landfall between West Bengal and Bangladesh with winds gusting up to 185 kmph. The wind speed packed in by Cyclone Amphan is equivalent of a category 5 hurricane.
The India Meteorological Department, or IMD, briefly classified Amphan as a super cyclonic storm — the department’s highest storm classification, on par with a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
Though the IMD says the storm has diminished in strength over the past day — to something more on the order of a Category 4 designation — with sustained winds surpassing 130 mph, Amphan remains the strongest cyclone seen in the Bay of Bengal in more than two decades.It can cause extensive large scale damage to the all areas which are coming under its radar.
Further IMD stated that very heavy rainfall may also occur in Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya till Wednesday apart from Odisha and Bengal. It is also said that the velocity of the wind will be so high that it may cause extensive damage to mud houses and partial damage to ‘pucca’ structure.
On Monday, A high level meeting was held for review by PM Narendra Modi. 53 national Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams are currently deployed in West Bengal and Odisha. IMD issued a cyclone alert for West
Bengal and north Odisha coasts.
Notably, Congress national leader Rahul gandhi expressed his concern over the people of odisha and bengal.Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday urged Congress workers in West Bengal and Odisha to warn people of the impending super cyclonic storm ‘Amphan’ and help them move to safer places.