Bengal prepares to face super cyclone Amphan

Kolkata,19 May(HS): As the super cyclone ‘Amphan’ has gained more strength on its way since yesterday and is all set to lash the coasts of West Bengal by tomorrow (20 May) with a possible wind speed of over 190 km per hour, the state government has made all preparations and is now fully geared up to face the onslaught of this natural calamity with all its resources and might.

According to the Alipore weather office here today, the super cyclone which was presently hovering around 475 km away from the coasts of Digha and Mandarmoni in East Midnapore district, about 200 km from Kolkata, has been gaining more strength by every hour on its way before making landfall between Digha and Hatia in Bangladesh expectedly by tomorrow noon, causing large scale damage and destruction of life and property.

They said though at present the Amphan had an average wind speed of around 150 km per hour, as it comes nearer to the coasts of Bay of Bengal, it has been gaining further strength and by the time it would make landfall near the Digha coast, the wind speed might even touch as high as 190 km per hour with devastating effects.

As a result, the West Bengal government is taking no chance to save the life and property of its people by all means and asked them in all nearby villages of the coastal areas of Digha and nearby Mandarmoni tourist sports as well as those living near Bakkhali sea resort in South 24 Parganas districts to leave immediately and take shelter in the government’s concrete flood shelters in nearby areas.

The people were also asked to take their pet animals like cows and goats along with them at the government shelters to save their lives from the danger.

Besides continuous miking by the police and the civil Defence personnel in the entire coastal zones of East and West Midnapore districts besides those in North and South 24 Parganas to alert the people about the impending danger and asking them to take necessary steps before the landfall of the super cyclone, the state government has set up a number of help desks, control rooms and storm monitoring centres both at the district level and in Kolkata to monitor the entire situation from tomorrow morning and take immediate necessary steps as and when required.

As the West Bengal Government has very successfully tackled the calamity caused by another super cyclone ‘Bulbul’  earlier this year, it is now fully aware of the possible devastation that might be caused by Amphan, named by the government of Thailand this time and is now fully geared up to rescue and relief machinery to effectively deal with the coming situation.

As part of the common drill in this connection, all people of nearby coastal villages were also informed about their Do’s and Dont’s during the cyclone including those like not staying in any dilapidated or kutcha house, collect all important documents in waterproof covers and stay away from any sharp object.

Unlike the situation during BulBul, all popular coastal tourist resorts of Digha, Madarmoni and Bakkhali are now absolutely empty because of the current lockdown. But all hotel owners and the very limited number of their employees have been asked to remain indoors round the clock during the cyclone as a precautionary measure.

Since last Saturday (16 May)all fishermen in Digha and Mandarmoni have also been asked not to venture into 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 Management Force have also remained 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 tomorrow, morning, state Fire Brigade and Emergency Services minister Sujit Bose held an emergency meeting yesterday with concerned 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 will also experience a heavy to very heavy rainfall, accompanied by a strong wind, steps are also being taken to initiate immediate steps to prevent waterlogging 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 4.0 lockdown, they have been asked to remain alert.