Cyclone Amphan: IMD Warns Of Road, Rail Links Disruption; Says It Can Wreak Large-Scale Damage

IMD has also issued a warning to suspend all fishing activity in West Bengal and Odisha till May 20 in the wake of super cyclone Amphan.

Dark clouds hover in the sky due to weather changes ahead of landfall by cyclone Amphan. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: As the Cyclone Amphan is gathering momentum to become the strongest storm on record in the Bay of Bengal with sustained wind speeds of 270 km per hour, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued fresh set of warnings saying that the super cyclone might disrupt roads, rail links at several places. In a series of tweets, IMD pointed out that Amphan will lead to extensive damage to standing crops, plantations, orchards and could also possibly blow down large bushy trees. The weather watchdog also stated that the super cyclone could also tear large boats and ships from their moorings.

Disruption of rail/road link at several places.

Extensive damage to standing crops, plantations, orchards. Blowing down of Palm and coconut trees. Uprooting of large bushy trees. Large boats and ships may get torn from their moorings. 3/3 — India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 19, 2020

IMD has also issued a warning to suspend all fishing activity in West Bengal and Odisha till May 20 in the wake of super cyclone Amphan. "Cyclone Amphan is a very intense storm which can wreak large-scale damage," India Meteorological Department Director General M Mohapatra said during a press briefing earlier in the day.

Damage Expected:

Extensive damage to all types of kutcha houses, some damage to old badly managed Pucca structures. Potential threat from flying objects. Extensive uprooting of communication and power poles. 2/3 — India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 19, 2020

Amphan has intensified into a super cyclonic storm and is expected to make a landfall on May 20 between the Digha islands in West Bengal and Hatia islands of Bangladesh. The cyclone is likely to de-intensify to an extremely severe cyclonic storm when it makes a landfall. The wind speed during the landfall is likely to be 165-175 kilometres per hour gusting upto 195 kilometres per hour. "It is very likely to move north-northeastwards across northwest Bay of Bengal and cross West Bengal Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans during the afternoon / evening of May 20 as an extremely severe cyclonic storm, Mohapatra said.

Super Cyclone AMPHAN is likely to make landfall between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sundarbans with maximum sustained wind 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph during afternoon to evening of tomorrow, the 20th May.

1/3 pic.twitter.com/rVI1r7LG2X — India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 19, 2020

He added that the coastal districts of West Bengal will receive heavy to extremely heavy rainfall on May 19 and 20. This includes East Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Kolkata in West Bengal. Storm surge of about 4-6 metres above astronomical tide is likely to inundate low lying areas of South and North 24 Parganas and about 3-4 metres over the low lying areas of East Medinipur district of West Bengal during the time of landfall. At least 12 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been kept on stand-by as the cyclonic storm is likely to hit a large part of the coastal areas with "very heavy rainfall" on Wednesday evening. Besides West Bengal, a warning has also been issued for Odisha, Sikkim and Meghalaya till Thursday.