Cyclone Amphan: What it Means for the Northeast Indian Region

Guwahati:

The landfall process for the extremely severe cyclonic storm 'Amphan' has begun at Digah in West Bengal and the process is likely to continue for four hours, reports said.

According to reports, Amphan lay at 155 km south-southeast of Paradip, Odisha, 95 km south of Digha, West Bengal at 3:30 pm on Wednesday. Meanwhile, lakhs of people in West Bengal and Odisha have been evacuated from vulnerable areas in view of the approaching storm.Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that she, along with senior government officials, would directly monitor the situation in the state and would herself stay put at the state secretariat on Wednesday to monitor the situation.

Northeast Weather Forecast:

Dr Sanjay O'Neill Shaw, the Deputy Director General of Meteorology at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Guwahati informed The Sentinel Digital: "Amphan is likely to move North-Northeast wards and cross the West Bengal Bangladesh between Digha and Hathiya close to Sunderbans during late afternoon that is between 4:00 pm to late evening with windspeeds from 155-165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph."

Informing about the weather forecast in the Northeast in the next 24 hours, Shaw said, "Moderate rain with thundershowers is very likely to occur at most places over Arunachal Pradesh, Assam-Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. Strong surface wind speeds about 30-40 kmph over South Assam, West Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura will likely be witnessed from tonight.

He further warned that thunderstorm with lightning and gusty wind with speed 40-50 kmph is likely to occur at isolated places over Arunachal, Assam, and Meghalaya. "Thunderstorms with lightning and gusty wind with speed 30-40 kmph is very likely to occur at isolated places over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. Heavy to very heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places over Assam-Meghalaya especially the western districts and heavy rain is very likely to occur at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura", he said.