Cyclone Sitrang Makes Landfall In Bangladesh, Bengal Braces For Heavy Rain. Key Points

Cyclone Sitrang: Bengal and its coastal areas received light rain on Monday, with the IMD predicting heavy showers on Tuesday. 

Workers anchor a ferry on the bank of the Ganga river, as a precautionary measure ahead of the landfall of cyclone Sitrang

Source : PTI

Cyclone Sitrang made its landfall in southern Bangladesh near the Khepupara area, bringing heavy rain to the country. It will take around five to six hours for the cyclone to pass through Bangladesh, amid fears of heavy damage to houses and crops and the disruption of road and power links.

Bengal and its coastal areas received light rain on Monday, with the IMD predicting heavy showers on Tuesday. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged the people of the state to stay indoors and said she was monitoring the cyclone situation from her residence.

Cyclone Sitrang Makes Landfall: Latest Updates

• The Met department has warned of heavy rain in coastal Bengal and northeastern states, dampening festive spirits on Diwali and Kali Puja.
• The weather office has warned that wind speed over coastal areas will reach a speed of 90 to 100 kmph, gusting to 110 kmph, in the north Bay of Bengal.
• Several teams of the disaster management department along with SDRF and NDRF personnel have been posted in coastal areas of the state
• On Monday, Kolkata received intermittent showers, forcing people to remain indoors on Kali puja. Squally wind accompanied by light to moderate rain affected normal life in the coastal districts of the state.
• The Sundarbans area in the coastal region of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in Bengal has been identified as "most vulnerable to devastation" and the IMD has forecast "heavy to extremely heavy rain".
• Light to medium rainfall is also expected in the Gangetic pockets of Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia and Murshidabad, the IMD predicted.
• CM Mamata Banerjee has urged the people of the state to stay indoors in case there is heavy rainfall. "I will request those who have been evacuated to safe shelters not to return home until the threat is over as you cannot predict anything about natural calamities. Things may take sudden turns anytime. This is mainly for those from the critical areas of Sunderbans and Sagar Island," she said.
• An integrated control room has already been opened up at Nabanna, the Bengal secretariat, which is being manned by six secretary-level IAS officers.
• In the north-east, south Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram will receive "heavy to extremely heavy rain". Heavy to very heavy rain is predicted in north Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur .
• Bangladesh has evacuated over 2.19 lakh people to safety and has set up more than 7,000 cyclone shelters.