Tripura on alert as super cyclone Amphan approaches

Agartala: Supercyclone Amphan is likely to make landfall in West Bengal on Wednesday afternoon or evening, The Tripura government has put all the eight districts on alert.

Special secretary, revenue department, S Choudhury has written to all the eight district magistrates asking them to remain alert.

“The super cyclonic storm ‘AMPHAN’ over west-central and adjoining central parts of South Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwards and now positioned at about 1040 km south-southwest of Bangladesh (Khepupara)”, Choudhury wrote.

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As per the report of IMD, AMPHAN is very likely to move through Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) on 20 May 2020 as an extremely severe cyclone.

The letter says that there is no warning of high impact of AMPHAN on Tripura but since the path of the cyclone cant be predicted the administration may be prepared.

“IMD Agartala centre has forecasted that there will be thunderstorms accompanied with lightning, gusty winds with speeds reaching up to 50 kmph and heavy rainfall at isolated places in the state between 20-21 May 2020”, the letter reads.

Also Read: Amphan: Category 4 cyclone takes aim at NE, Odisha and West Bengal

The state control room and district control rooms are being informed periodically about the movement of the cyclone.

“Keeping the extreme situation due to impact of AMPHAN, I am further directed to request you to be alert to the situation and accordingly kindly take necessary preparedness measures at your level as per your district and below level disaster management plans to tackle the situation”, the letter added.

The cyclone is expected to cause flooding and damage in the coastal areas of Bengal. Rail could be impacted along with power and communications.

Sikkim, Assam and Meghalaya are also expected to receive light to moderate rainfall.