The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said depression has formed over east-central Bay of Bengal and would intensify further and cross north Odisha-West Bengal coast between Paradeep and Sagar Island by Wednesday evening as a very severe cyclonic storm. Scattered heavy to very heavy rainfall with isolated extremely falls over Odisha and Gangetic West Bengal are expected on Wednesday and isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely falls over Jharkhand on Thursday.
Depression has formed over eastcentral BOB at 1130 IST.Itwould intensify further and cross north Odisha-West Bengal coast betweenParadeep and Sagar Island by 26th evening as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm. For more detail : https://t.co/3Sf6JA45yn pic.twitter.com/ddqTzezLnC
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) May 23, 2021
According to news agency ANI, IMD DGM Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said low pressure area on east-central Bay of Bengal has concentrated into a depression on Sunday. It is expected to move north and northwestwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm by Monday morning, he added.
The IMD said the cyclonic storm will cross the coast of north Odisha and West Bengal between Paradeep and Sagar Island with wind speed gusting to 185kmph. The Met department noted that this is a highly damaging wind speed, which can be compared to Cyclone Tauktae and Cyclone Amphan.
It will intensify into a very cyclonic storm & will cross the coast of north Odisha & West Bengal between Paradeep and Sagar Island with wind speed gusting to 185 Kmph. It is highly damaging wind speed, you can compare the damage with last Cyclone Tauktae & Cyclone Amphan: IMD
— ANI (@ANI) May 23, 2021
The cyclone is likely to cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and north Odisha.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for timely evacuation of those involved in off-shore activities during a high-level meeting chaired by him to review the preparedness of states and central government agencies to deal with the situation arising out of cyclone Yaas.
He asked officials to work in close coordination with states to ensure safe evacuation of people from high-risk areas, and to ensure that time duration of outages of power supply and communication network are minimum and restored swiftly, a PMO statement said. The prime minister further asked officials to ensure proper coordination and planning with state governments to ensure that no disruption is caused to COVID-19 treatment and vaccination in hospitals.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has committed as many as 75 teams for rescue operations, 18 of which will be deployed in Odisha. The NDRF is assisting state agencies in their preparedness for evacuating people from vulnerable locations and is also continuously holding community awareness campaign on dealing with the cyclonic situation.
Indian Coast Guard and Navy ships and helicopters too have been deployed for relief, and rescue operations, while the Indian Air Force and engineer task force units of the Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment. Seven ships with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief units are on standby along the western coast, it added.
—With PTI inputs
