A low-pressure area, set to form over east central Bay of Bengal on May 22, is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm and strike the Odisha-West Bengal coast on May 26, the Met department said on Thursday, sparking fears of another Amphan-like catastrophe.
Regional Met director G K Das said several places in Bengal are likely to experience light to moderate rainfall from May 25, and isolated areas may encounter heavy showers.
The intensity of rainfall may gradually increase, especially in the Gangetic belts.
The Met department has also warned of rough to very rough sea conditions.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that the cyclonic storm Yaas is going to intensity into a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ in the next 12 hours.
The IMD in its bulletin said, “The severe cyclonic storm Yaas over east-central Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards with a speed of about 9 kmph during past six hours and lay centred at 9 UTC of May 24 over east-central Bay of Bengal.”
It further stated that the maximum sustained wind speed is 55 knots gusting to 65 knots around system centre.
With West Bengal bracing up for Cyclonic storm Yass, Calcutta high court has informed that it has canceled the hearing of all matters listed for May 26 and 27, in view of the warning issued by India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the cyclonic storm.
With Cyclone Yaas predicted to make landfall on the eastern coast on May 26 and likely to hit parts of Odisha and West Bengal, the Indian Navy on Tuesday said it has ramped up rescue and relief operations to minimise damages.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah held a review meeting, through video conferencing on Monday with the Chief Ministers of Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh and the Lt. Governor of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, to assess their preparedness and that of Central Ministries and agencies concerned, to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone ‘Yaas’, which is forming in the Bay of Bengal.
Yaas is expected to be about as intense as Cyclone Tauktae which slammed into the west coast last week but tamer than Cyclone Amphan which hit Bengal exactly one year ago and for about three devastating minutes sustained wind speeds of 240 kmph. At least 80 people lost their lives.
