Cyclone Remal to make landfall around Sunday midnight: IMD

Kolkata: A depression in the Bay of Bengal is expected to develop into a severe cyclonic storm and make landfall somewhere between Bengal’s Sagar Island and Bangladesh’s Khepupara around Sunday midnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Friday.

To take stock of the preparedness of administration, a high-level meeting was conducted at Nabanna. The Cabinet secretary of the Union government also held a virtual meeting with the Bengal and Odisha governments. The National Disaster Management has also sent guidelines as to what precautionary measures ought to have taken.

A special control room has been opened in Nabanna managed by IAS officers. District Magistrates have also opened a control room in their respective districts. Cyclone ‘Remal’ will bring heavy to very heavy rain in the coastal districts of Bengal on May 26 and 27, IMD said.

The MeT office has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall on May 26 and 27 in Kolkata, South and North 24-Parganas, East Midnapore and Howrah districts.