Cyclone Amphan with a wind speed of 120-140 km may hit state by Tuesday afternoon, says weather office
Kolkata: The Alipore weather office on Sunday predicted that the severe cyclonic storm Amphan will land at Digha in East Midnapore and Hatia island of Bangladesh between Tuesday afternoon and evening on Wednesday.
The state government is taking all precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the people mainly in the coastal areas of the district where the wind speed may be in the range of 120 to 140 kilometre per hours in the late afternoon or evening on Wednesday.
"There are chances of light to medium rainfall in North and South 24-Pargana, West and East Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly and Kolkata on Tuesday and rainfall in all the districts of South Bengal on Wednesday. Heavy rainfall is predicted in the three coastal districts of South 24-Pargana, North 24-Pargana and East Midnapore on Wednesday with very heavy rainfall in some parts of these three districts located near the sea coast. There will be squall along the coast at a speed of 45 to 55 km per hour on Tuesday. The wind speed will increase from Wednesday morning and may go up to 120-140 km per hour in the late afternoon," said Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, Deputy Director, IMD Kolkata. "We have already started making arrangements for shifting the residents who live near the coast. The cyclone centres, educational institutions have been sanitised and we have arranged for the provision of food and relief material too. Medical emergency, water supply and other emergency arrangements have been made. The local BDO had held a meeting with the gram sabha members and given necessary instructions. The Irrigation department is working on a war footing to strengthen embankments in some areas where there are chances of inundation by the sea whenever it turns rough. The sea is expected to be hostile right from Monday and the intensity will be higher as the cyclone advances," said Akhil Giri, Vice-Chairman of Digha Sankarpur Development Authority.
The South 24-Pargana district administration has also made emergency arrangements mainly for the people of Sagar Islands. Arrangements have been made to remove trees uprooted by the storm and restoring power in case of any power cut.
"We have made a plan to judiciously manage the cyclone centres and use schools, offices etc to maintain social distancing if we need to evacuate people from the coastal areas," said a senior district official.
The state Agriculture minister Asish Banerjee said: "All concerned district authorities have been directed to alert farmers about the cyclone and to ask them to ensure harvest as maximum as possible to minimise the loss if any takes place."
