Bengal govt fully geared up to face super cyclone Amphan

Kolkata, 18 May (HS) :As the super cyclone ‘Amphan’ is likely to hit the West Bengal coasts within the next 24 to 36 hours with a possible wind speed of over 120 km per hour or more,the state government has fully geared up its machinery to deal with the natural calamity with all its resources and might.

According to the local weather office,the exact time of the possible landfall of the super cyclone and the storm could not be predicted at this juncture as it presently remained about 980 km away from the coasts of  Digha and Mandarmoni in East Midnapore district, in the Bay of Bengal and has been gaining speed and strength every hour.

In most likely scenario it would lash between the coast of Digha and Hatia in Bagladesh by tomorrow evening or latest by early hours of Wednesday(20 May) with a wind speed of over 120 kmph,the weather office said.

However, keeping in mind the possible ferocity and the devastating power of the super cyclone ‘Amphan’ which was named by the Government of Thailand, the West Bengal Government, which has very successfully faced the calamity caused by another super cyclone ‘Bulbul’  earlier this year,has fully geared up its rescue and relief machinery to  properly and effectively deal with the coming situation too.

As part of the common drill in this connection , all people of nearby villages and other places in and around the tourist resorts of Digha, Manarmopni in East Midnapore district and Bakkhali in neighbouring South 24 Parganas district have been asked to remain alert or if possible leave for the nearby government shelters with minimum luggage to escape the wrath of the super cyclone by tonight.

 Repeated miking by the police and the Home Guards are also being done in all these places and in all coastal villages since Saturday (16 May) to inform the people about  the impending danger and about their Do’s and Dont’s during the cyclone.

Currently all the coastal tourist resorts are absolutely empty these days due to lockdown. All hotel owners and the very limited number of employees have also been asked to remain indoors round the clock during the cyclone.

Since last Saturday (16 May)all fishermen in Digha and Mandarmoni had also been asked not to venture in to the rough sea till the normalisation of the situation and keep their boats safely anchored onto the beaches.The Coast Guard and the National Disaster Managment Force  are also put in in full alert.

Meanwhile to  keep an eye on the overall situation and how to deal with the possible calamity  after the landfall of the Super cyclone by Wednesday morning, state Fire Brigade and Emergency Services minister Sujit Bose  held an urgent meeting at the State Secretariat Nabanna this afternoon  with officials to chalk out a plan of action to deal with the emergency situation in connection with the lashing out of Amphan.

Since both East and West Midnapore,North and South 24 Parganas along with Howrah,Hooghly besides Kolkata and its neighbourhood are likely to experience a heavy rainfall, accompanied by strong wind, steps are also being taken to initiate immediate steps to prevent water logging in most parts of the city besides felling of trees and light posts because of the cyclone.Though the people are already at home because of lockdown 4.0, they have been asked to remain alert .