Cyclone Amphan's Landfall Process Commences At 2:30 Pm In West Bengal

The extremely severe cyclone Amphan's landfall process commenced at 2:30 PM and will continue for about 4 hours said IMD on Thursday.

"The landfall process commenced since 2:30 PM, will continue for about 4 hours. The forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land in West Bengal," Director of IMD Bhubaneswar told news agency ANI.

All flyovers and elevated corridors were closed to vehicular traffic in Kolkata in view of the approaching 'extremely heavy cyclonic storm' Amphan. Heavy rain started in areas like Namkhana, Frazerganj, Sagar Island, and Kakdwip in Kolkata's adjoining South 24-Parganas district and East Midnapore's coastal part Digha and Haldia.

Strong winds with heavy rain had already started in various south Bengal districts since this morning as the cyclonic storm currently lays 120-km south-southeast of Paradip in Odisha, 90-km south of Digha and 190-km of the state capital Kolkata.

At least seven National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in six West Bengal districts, including East Midnapore, West Midnapore, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah.

At least 12 NDRF teams have also been kept on stand-by as the cyclonic storm is likely to hit a large part of the coastal districts with "very heavy rainfall". Besides West Bengal, a warning has also been issued for Odisha, Sikkim and Meghalaya till Thursday.

The landfall process commenced since 2:30 PM, will continue for about 4 hours. The forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land in West Bengal: Director, IMD Bhubaneswar #CycloneAmphan pic.twitter.com/bbAznoaz3f

— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2020