Landfall of Cyclone Amphan begins, to continue for 4 hrs: IMD Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], May 20 (ANI): The landfall process of Cyclone Amphan has commenced since 2.30 pm on Wednesday and it will continue for about four hours, said Director of Indian Meteorological Department, Bhubaneswar Centre, HR Biswas.
He also said that the forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land in West Bengal.
"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," he said.
Earlier in the day, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General SN Pradhan said that Odisha and West Bengal have evacuated nearly 1.5 lakh and 3.3 lakh people respectively ahead of the landfall of cyclone Amphan.

Pradhan also said that as per the IMD, the storm surge could be four to six meters of seawater which will enter land area.

NDRF teams are coordinating with local administration for storm surge response and a total of 41 teams are deployed in Odisha and West Bengal, he said.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) is also closely monitoring the developments in the Bay of Bengal and ships at Visakhapatnam have been kept on standby to proceed to affected areas to undertake humanitarian aid, evacuation, and logistic support. (ANI)