Cyclone Amphan To Hit Bengal On May 20, Strong Winds & Rain Witnessed In Odisha As Lakhs Evacuated

Cyclone Amphan is likely to make a landfall in Bengal on the afternoon of May 20. The storm weakened from a super cyclone to an extremely severe cyclonic storm on May 19, three days after it was formed over south-east Bay of Bengal. More than three lakh people have been evacuated in Bengal. 1704 shelter camps have been set up and 119075 people have been evacuated so far in Odisha in view of the cyclone. One of the fiercest storms to form over Bay of Bengal, Amphan is expected to pack winds at 155-165 kmph gusting up to 185 kmph when it crosses West Bengal's Digha and Bangladesh's Hatiya. NASA has released an image which shows Cyclone Amphan's position in Bay of Bengal on the night of May 19. Strong winds and high tides witnessed in Odisha's Paradip and Balasore as Cyclone Amphan closes in on the shores. Forty teams of the NDRF have been deployed in West Bengal and Odisha to deal with any emergency situation. Bengal would monitor ‘red plus zones’ for Cyclone Amphan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on May 19. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a high-level meeting to review the response measures and preparedness to tackle the storm.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 20, 2020 11:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).