Cyclone Amphan: Odisha, WB brace for another disaster, may cause extensive damage, Centre promises support

Cyclone "Amphan" has developed into a super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal on Monday and has the potential to cause extensive damage in the coastal districts of West Bengal when it makes landfall on Wednesday, the government said.

The cyclone is expected to make landfall on the West Bengal coast in the afternoon of May 20 as an extremely severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds ranging up to 195 kmph.

The cyclone has the potential to cause extensive damage in the coastal districts of West Bengal, an official statement said.

"Amphan" will cause heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal, it added.

The districts of East Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Kolkata in are likely to be worst affected due to "Amphan".

The storm is also likely to impact the coastal districts of north Odisha, including Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Balasore.

The India Meteorological Department has warned of a storm surge of a height of about four-six metres above the astronomical tide, which would inundate the low-lying coastal areas of South and North 24 parganas, and three-four metres in East Medinipur at the time of landfall, the statement said.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has initiated steps to meet any eventuality due to the cyclone Amphan, said an official on Monday.

ECoR has planned for early restoration of train traffic and railway track, if affected by Amphan.

A 24X7 disaster management cell has been opened at ECoR headquarters at Rail Sadan in Bhubaneswar and at the divisional headquarters at Visakhapatnam, Khurda Road, and Sambalpur, said the official.

The ECoR has positioned special teams for early restoration of tracks, signalling system and electrification, to run train, if there was no electric supply. Diesel locomotives have been kept ready for utilisation during failure of electricity.

The ECoR is also keeping an eye over all stations between Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak in Bhubaneswar-Kharagpur railway section, the official said.

He said the ECoR general manager has directed officials concerned to be on full alert to deal with incidents like flooding near railway tracks and to ensure safety of trains and smooth operations.

Accordingly, all precautionary measures have been taken. The drainage has been cleared of silt, vegetation and other obstructions to ensure free flow of rainwater.

The waterways on bridges have been cleared of vegetation and other obstructions.

Instructions have been issued that whenever there is heavy rain, the sectional gangmen will organise patrolling of tracks on their own in their beat to make sure that the tracks are safe for passage of trains and ensure protection at all locations where washouts/slips are likely to occur.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on Monday to review the response preparedness against cyclone Amphan developing in the Bay of Bengal, and assured all possible Central assistance to the states which are likely to be hit.

At the review meet, Modi took stock of the situation and reviewed the measures as well as the evacuation plan presented by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.

"During the presentation of the response plan, DG NDRF (SN Pradhan) informed that 25 NDRF teams have been deployed on the ground while 12 others are ready in reserve. Twenty-four other NDRF teams are also on standby in different parts of the country," the statement said.

The prime minister said he "reviewed the preparedness regarding the situation due to cyclone 'Amphan'. The response measures as well as evacuation plans were discussed."

Home Minister Amit Shah, Principal Advisor to the PM P K Sinha and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba also attended the meeting.

Conveying the massive impact the cyclone may have, NDRF DG S N Pradhan said, “Amphan now a 'super cyclone' and it is a serious issue, the only other cyclone in Odisha in 1999 was very deadly.”

With inputs from agencies