Cyclone Remal: Kolkata airport to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon

The authorities of Kolkata airport have decided to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon in view of the possible impact of cyclone Remal, an official said.

The precautionary measure was taken after a meeting of the stakeholders of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport in Kolkata on Saturday.

“In view of cyclone Remal's impact on the coastal region of West Bengal, including Kolkata, a meeting was held with the stakeholders and it has been decided to suspend flight operations from 1200 IST on May 26 to 0900 IST on May 27 due to predicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Kolkata,” NSCBI airport director C Pattabhi said in a statement.

With a wind speed of 110-120 km per hour, gusting to 135 kmph, the cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall on May 26 at midnight along the adjoining coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh.

A low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into cyclonic storm 'Remal' and is expected to make landfall between West Bengal’s Sagar Island and Bangladesh’s Khepupara at midnight on Sunday, the IMD said.

This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this pre-monsoon season.

The deep depression over the east-central Bay of Bengal intensified into cyclonic storm 'Remal' and was centered approximately 360 km south-southeast of Khepupara and 350 km south-southeast of Sagar Island, according to an update issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) at 7:50 pm on Saturday.

The Met Office has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and north Odisha on May 26-27.

A storm surge of up to 1.5 metres is expected to inundate low-lying areas of coastal West Bengal and Bangladesh at the time of landfall.