Bhubaneswar: The north Odisha coast will likely face the maximum impact of Cyclone Amphan when it makes landfall on Wednesday (May 20), the Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar said on Monday.
Giving details of the approaching cyclone, Met duty officer Uma Shankar Das the wind speed of Amphan during its movement in the sea will be around 220-230 kmph with gusting up to 250 kmph, which comes under the super cyclone category.
“Cyclone Amphan will maintain its intensity from Monday evening till 5.30 am on Tuesday. But as it will gradually change its course towards the northern coast, it will lose its intensity and will turn into an extremely severe cyclonic storm and subsequently to a very severe cyclonic storm at the time of the landfall,” Das said.
He also said that while the temperature in the central Bay of Bengal is relatively high, the temperature and the thermal energy in the North Bay of Bengal along the Odisha, West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts is less. As a result, the wind speed of the cyclonic storm will gradually come down at the time of its entry into the North Bay of Bengal and move as an extremely severe cyclonic storm.
Talking about the wind speed of the cyclone at the time of the landfall between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) on May 20, he said it will be 145-155 kmph with gusting up to 170 kmph. The wind speed along the north Odisha coast during the period will be 110-120 kmph with gusting up to 140 kmph. However, the wind speed along the north Odisha coast from the afternoon on May 19 will be 75-85 kmph with gusting up to 95 kmph.
“The wind speed in the north coastal districts i.e., Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Kendrapara and Jajpur will increase on May 20 with 110-120 kmph with gusting up to 130 kmph. But in other coastal districts like Cuttack, Jagasinghpur, Puri and Khurda the wind speed will be 55-65 kmph with gusting up to 75 kmph,” Das said.
He further said that the there will be heavy rainfall in most places over the coastal districts with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places on May 19 for which the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow warning for these districts.
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