A cyclonic storm brewing over Bay of Bengal is likely to cause heavy to very heavy rainfall along the coastal districts of West Bengal over the weekend, officials at regional meteorological centre in Kolkata said on Friday.
The West Bengal Government has issued advisory for fishermen not to venture into the sea and teams of National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force has been deployed in coastal districts of the State.
The weather office predicted that the cyclonic storm is likely to move north-westwards and reach west-central Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh – south Odisha coasts by Saturday morning. “Thereafter it is likely to recurve north-north-eastwards and move along Odisha coast reaching near Puri around Sunday noon. Thereafter it is likely to continue to move north-north-eastwards towards West Bengal coast,” the bulletin issued by the Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata said.
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The weather office has predicted heavy to very heavy rain (7-20 cm) and gusty wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph very likely to occur at one or two places over North and South 24 Parganas, East and West Midnapore, Jhargram, Howrah, Kolkata and Hooghly districts on December 5.
Twelve disaster response teams of Indian Coast Guard have been kept standby to provide assistance to local administration, if required. Radar Operating Stations at Paradip and Haldia are regularly transmitting weather warning in English and vernacular languages and requesting fishing boats to return to base and merchant vessels to move to safety. A total of five units including an aircraft have been tasked for the operations, a press note by the Ministry of Defence, said.
The West Bengal police is making regular announcements to alert people of the coastal and low-lying areas. Teams of State police on Friday made announcement in areas like Sagar and Namkhana in South 24 Parganas and Digha in Purba Medinipur urging people to remain alert and move to higher grounds.
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In the past two to three years, the coastal areas of West Bengal braved through four tropical cyclones including Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan in May 2020.