When Cyclone Remal makes landfall, the Bengal coast will bear the brunt.

 

When Cyclone Remal makes landfall, the Bengal coast will bear the brunt.

Severe Cyclone Remal hits West Bengal and Bangladesh with winds of 110-120 km/h, causing destruction. Severe cyclone Remal made landfall in coastal areas of West Bengal and Bangladesh on Sunday night, packing winds of 110-120 km/h and gusts of up to 135 km/h, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The landfall, which began around 8:30 p.m. and is expected to last for the next four hours, caused widespread destruction and chaos in the surrounding area, where nearly a million people had been evacuated in recent days.

“The front sector of the wall cloud region is moving on land.Landfall process has started in coastal areas of Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal state. It will continue for the next four hours,” said an update from IMD. The center of the storm was about 30 kilometers (30 kilometers) off the coast of Bangladesh, and experts expected landfall to occur mainly in the Sundarbans region, where mangroves are likely to absorb storm surge. 44:44: Strong winds of 100-110 kmph were observed along the Bengal coast on Sunday evening, some of its effects being felt on the adjoining north Odisha coast. Winds of 45-55 km/h and gusts of up to 65 km/h have been reported in Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata and East Medinipur districts, and are expected to reach 70-80 km/h and gusts of up to 65 km/h in the coming days. . It can reach up to 90km/h.

To prepare for the cyclone, the Bengal government has evacuated around 110,000 people from coastal areas such as the Sundarbans and Sagar Island to cyclone evacuation centers. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 14 teams in vulnerable areas across nine districts of West Bengal and is ready to rapidly deploy additional teams if required. Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBI) was closed from Sunday noon to Monday morning 9 am, with 394 domestic and international flights cancelled. A senior government official said the cyclone could have become stronger than earlier as sea surface temperatures were very high. "Severe Cyclone Remal did not intensify further for two reasons. First, the system was initially connected to the monsoon flow, which prevented it from intensifying. By the time it broke out of the monsoon flow, it had already reached the coasts of the Western Balkans and Bangladesh, giving it little time to consolidate. Secondly, moderate wind shear was also not favorable for intensification,” said the expert, who requested anonymity.

"We do not expect this cyclone to have any major negative impact on the monsoon," the official added. The official said a storm surge of nearly 3 meters is expected on the Bangladesh side. “A storm surge of at least 1 meter is expected on the Sunderbans river in India. It is important to note that this will occur during high tide, so flooding of low-lying areas is expected,” the official said.

Political parties have canceled rallies and roadshows scheduled for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections in the affected areas. Samik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said: "People's safety is our top priority. We have canceled several rallies where senior politicians, including state president Sukanta Majumdar, were scheduled to speak. Trinamool Congress's General Abhishek Banerjee also The roadshow in Basirhat constituency has been cancelled.”