The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically altered our lives. After spending the last two months of our lives confined to our apartments, lockdown 4.0 finally brought with it a sigh of relief (at least for people not living in containment zones). And when we thought things couldn’t get worse than this, we hear news of a mega-cyclone brewing in the Bay of Bengal. The super cyclone is called Amphan and it’s expected to wreak havoc when it hits East India, later today. The cyclone is moving at a speed of over 140 kmph and over a million people are being evacuated from West Bengal and Odisha.
Twelve coastal districts of Odisha have been put on high alert: Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda, Gajapti, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Nayagarh. Heavy rainfall and high-cyclonic winds are to be expected in the area.
The National Disaster Response Force personnel were deployed in the area on Sunday with orders to make massive evacuations. At least 37 NDRF teams comprising of 45 personnel each were deployed in Odisha & West Bengal.
“Amphan very likely to intensify into a super cyclonic storm in next 6hrs. We’ve issued heavy rainfall warnings for Gajapati, Puri, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara. Tomorrow rainfall activity to increase in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajapur, Mayurbhanj, Khurja, Cuttack,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director of Indian Meteorological Department Bhubaneshwar.
According to a tweet update by PTI, PM Narendra Modi will chair a high-level meeting with MHA, NDMA today.
Many parts of Kerela witnessed extreme rains last night due to the impending storm. The government has advised all sea-activities to remain shut till May 21.
Here’s Cyclone Amphan In A Series Of Tweets
The last time Odisha witnessed a super cyclone was in 1999
A video showing the eye of the super cyclone
‘Amphan’ intensifies into super cyclone, wind speed above 200 km per hour
Here are a few pre-cyclone images from different areas
This accurately explains why afforestation seriously
Glimpse of the cyclone from Pune
First forest fires, riots in Delhi, coronavirus, global recession and now a super cyclone?
Dear Universe, can we skip to 2021 now, please?
Featured Image: Twitter