At least 1.4 million people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh have taken refuge in storm shelters as super cyclone Amphan moved closer to the coast on Wednesday
Authorities are continuing to shift the local people to the shelters, said Kazi Tasmin Ara Ajmiri, Deputy Secretary in the National Disaster Response Coordination Centre.
Some people who came to the centres on Tuesday left for home as the storm has not hit the coast yet; they are being brought back to the shelters, she said.
“There are 1,364,000 people in the shelters as of 9 a.m. on Wednesday,” said the Deputy Secretary.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department elevated the storm alert to great danger signal 9 for Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar ports as the cyclone was just 345 km from the country’s coastline, bdnews24 reported.
Mongla and Payra ports have been asked to keep hoisted great danger signal number 10.
The storm is expected to cut its path through the Bangladesh-West Bengal coast near the Sundarbans by Wednesday evening, according to the Met Office.
Last year, 1.8 million people were taken to the shelters ahead of cyclone Fani while another 2.2 million were moved to safety from the imminent dangers of cyclone Bulbul.
In Jhalakathi, almost 10,000 riverside inhabitants of Sugandha Char, Rajapur, Bishkhali and Nalchhiti have been evacuated to cyclone shelters.
Bagerhat, another coastal district, had more than 90,000 of its residents including children, senior citizens and specially-abled persons moved to 977 cyclone shelters as of Wednesday morning, said Additional Deputy Commissioner Md Kamrul Islam.
About 12,000 volunteers are working at the shelters where special emphasis is being placed on maintaining social distancing amid the coronavirus crisis.
The local authorities and the Red Crescent Society supplied food, safe drinking water and candles to the people taking refuge at the shelter homes.
Around 13,000 livestock have also been moved to safety as the storm approaches the coastline, said the additional deputy commissioner.
The Odisha government has evacuated over 1.37 lakh people to safer places as extremely severe cyclone Amphan hurtled towards the coast triggering heavy rain and strong wind on Wednesday morning.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena informed that over 1.37 lakh people have been evacuated to cyclone shelters till morning and the figure may go up.
According to reports, trees were uprooted and power infrastructure suffered damage following strong winds in the coastal districts.
Paradip recorded the highest wind speed of 102 kmph followed by Chandbali with 74 kmph, Balasore 61 kmph, and Bhubaneswar 56kmph.
Paradip also registered highest 197.1 mm rainfall.
As many 16 units of the National Disaster Response Force, 15 teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), 75 teams of Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) and 217 fire service team have been deployed in the affected districts.
All flyovers and elevated corridors were closed to vehicular traffic in Kolkata in view of the approaching ‘extremely heavy cyclonic storm’ Amphan, expected to make a landfall somewhere between East Midnapore’s Digha and Hatiya Island in Bangladesh on Wednesday. The landfall is expected between afternoon and evening.
Police sources said that all flyovers have been barricades with guardrails. Movement of vehicles was suspended on AJC Bose, Maa and Park Street flyovers in the state capital.
Several districts of West Bengal started experiencing strong winds and heavy rain as Amphan (pronounced as UM-PUN) approached closer to the state’s coastal belts on Wednesday afternoon.
Heavy rain started in areas like Namkhana, Frazerganj, Sagar Island, and Kakdwip in Kolkata’s adjoining South 24-Parganas district and East Midnapore’s coastal part Digha and Haldia.
Strong winds with heavy rain had already started in various south Bengal districts since this morning as the cyclonic storm currently lays 120-km south-southeast of Paradip in Odisha, 90-km south of Digha and 190-km of the state capital Kolkata.
Met Department sources said that it can wreak havoc in coastal districts of East Midnapore, South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas. Besides, the storm may cause heavy damage in other south Bengal districts like West Midnapore, Murshidabad, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata as well.
Eastern Railway (ER) sources said that the departure of 02301 Howrah-New Delhi AC Special Express has been cancelled in view of cyclone Amphan on Wednesday. Similarly, 02302 New Delhi-Howrah AC Special Express on May 21 will also remain cancelled.
West Bengal disaster management authorities are keeping a closed watch on the situation. A control room has been opened at the state Secretariat Nabanno.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also formed a task force, spearheaded by state Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, which is monitoring the relief and rescue operations in cyclone Amphan.
At least seven National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in six West Bengal districts, including East Midnapore, West Midnapore, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah.
At least 12 NDRF teams have also been kept on stand-by as the cyclonic storm is likely to hit a large part of the coastal districts with “very heavy rainfall”.
Besides West Bengal, a warning has also been issued for Odisha, Sikkim and Meghalaya till Thursday.