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‘Amphan will be extremely severe cyclonic storm on landfall, 24 teams on standby’: NDRF
The NDRF chief added that the country is facing a dual challenge of Covid-19 and cyclone Amphan.
Top officials from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) briefed the media over cyclone Amphan on Tuesday and said that Amphan will be ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ when it makes landfall on May 20.
NDRF Director General SN Pradhan said that there are 24 teams on standby and every battalion that has been deployed has 4 teams.
IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said Amphan is the most intense cyclone and the second super cyclone which has been formed in the Bay of Bengal after 1999.
Watch | Cyclone Amphan | Expected damage, government preparation: Latest updates
“Its wind speed in the sea right now is 200-240 kilometre per hour (kmph). It is moving towards the north-northwestward direction,” Mohapatra said.
Also read: Cyclone Amphan and the states likely to be hit by its landfall
Pradhan informed that 15 teams are deployed in Odisha currently. “They are carrying out awareness drives, communication drives, and evacuation. 19 teams are deployed in West Bengal, 2 in standby there.” he said.
The NDRF chief added that the country is facing a dual challenge of Covid-19 and cyclone Amphan.
Mohapatra said, in West Bengal, the cyclone could affect districts like North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts. Kolkata, Hooghly, Howrah and West Midnapore districts will face wind speed of 110-120 kmph gusting up to 135 kmph, he added.
Telecom secretary Anshu Prakash said that SMS alerts are being generated for people in affected districts for evacuation purposes.
“It is up to state governments to decide the frequency of those alerts. It’s free of cost. It’ll be in local languages,” Prakash said.
Also read: Cyclone ‘Amphan’ to make landfall tomorrow
Super cyclonic storm Amphan, over west-central Bay of Bengal, moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 17 kmph and lay centred at around 11:30 am on May 19 as an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ over west-central Bay of Bengal.
According to the IMD, Amphan is likely to move north-northeastwards across the northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal – Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans during the afternoon to evening hours of May 2020.
