A powerful cyclone packing wind speeds topping 165 kilometres per hour is veering toward parts of coastal India and Bangladesh

May 19, 2020

London : Millions of people in India and Bangladesh are in the path of a super cyclone which is due to make landfall in less than 36 hours, bringing damaging winds and heavy rain to a region already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic.

Super Cyclone Amphan became the strongest storm ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal on Monday night, after intensifying with sustained wind speeds of up to 270 kilometers per hour (165 miles per hours), according to data from the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center, CNN writes.

Union Home Minister of India Amit Shah has spoken to the Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Odisha, Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik respectively, and assured them of assistance from the Central government in dealing with Cyclone Amphan.

According to sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Shah assured the Chief Ministers of the two states that the Centre will provide all supported needed by them. Cyclone Amphan Moving Towards West Bengal Coasts as Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm, Heavy Rains Likely in North 24 Parganas And East Medinipur Districts: IMD.

Shah spoke to Mamata Banerjee and assured that the Centre is committed to helping the state and informed that teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have already been deployed in the state, sources said on Tuesday.

The Home Minister has also spoken to Naveen Patnaik and reviewed the preparedness of the state in dealing with the cyclone, they added. Earlier today, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a warning regarding Cyclone Amphan and said that it is likely to move towards West Bengal as an extremely severe cyclonic storm tomorrow.

The super cyclone Amphan is being continuously tracked by the Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, IMD said, ANI writes.