These districts in West Bengal, Odisha likely to be worst-hit by Cyclone 'Amphan'

According to the latest bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone 'Amphan' has intensified into a super cyclonic storm and has moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 15 kmph during the past six hours. It now lay centered over the west-central Bay of Bengal and is very likely to cross West Bengal – Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans on May 20 evening.

The IMD bulletin also provides details about which districts are directly in the line of the potential damage of the cyclone, which is expected to make landfall in the states of West Bengal and Odisha. As such, the districts which stand the highest risk of potential damage due to Cyclone 'Amphan' are:

Districts in West Bengal likely to be worst-hit by Cyclone 'Amphan':

• East Medinipur
• South 24 Parganas
• North 24 Parganas
• Howrah
• Hoogli
• Kolkata

Districts in Odisha likely to be worst-hit by Cyclone 'Amphan':

• Jagatsinghpur
• Kendrapara
• Bhadrak
• Balasore
• Jajpur
• Mayurbhanj

"The Super Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’ (pronounced as UM-PUN) over the west-central Bay of Bengal moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 15 kmph during the past six hours and now lay centered at 0830 hrs IST of 19th May 2020 near latitude 16.0°N and longitude 86.8°E over west-central Bay of Bengal about 480 km nearly south of Paradip (Odisha), 630 km south-southwest of Digha (West Bengal) and 750 km south-southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh)," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on this day.

Odisha government has started evacuating 11 lakh people from coastal areas in view of the warning of strong winds and heavy rains due to Cyclone 'Amphan'. The government authorities are transporting the evacuees to temporary shelter homes.

The West Bengal government has also started evacuating people from low-lying areas to safer places.

According to the IMD, Gale wind speed reaching 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph very likely along and off East Medinipur and North & South 24 Parganas districts and 110-120 kmph gusting to 130 kmph over Kolkata, Hoogli, Howrah and West Medinipur districts of West Bengal during the time of landfall (i.e. from afternoon to the night on May 20)

 Squally wind speed reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph likely to prevail over Puri, Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur districts of Odisha during May 20.

Rainfall is expected on May 19-21 with a heavy to extremely heavy downpour likely at isolated places all over the coastal districts of Gangetic West Bengal, including East & West Midnapur, North & South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, and Kolkata, the IMD said.

Light to moderate rainfall is also expected at one or to places over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, including Malda, North & South Dinajpur, and even across a few regions in Sikkim.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the North Bay of Bengal along and off West Bengal - North Odisha coasts during May 18-21 because of 'Phenomenal' sea conditions.

The super cyclone ‘AMPHAN’ is now being continuously tracked by the Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the response preparedness against Cyclone 'Amphan'. 

The Prime Minister took full stock of the situation and reviewed the measures as well as the evacuation plan presented by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.

During a presentation on the response plan, the NDRF director general informed that 25 NDRF teams have been deployed on the ground, while 12 others are ready in reserve.

Twenty-four other NDRF teams are also on standby in different parts of the country, the force chief told the meeting, the statement said.