Residents in West Bengal, Coastal Bangladesh, and Tripura have been urged to brace for adverse weather conditions starting from May 26.
A deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into a cyclonic storm, called Remal, which is expected to make landfall between the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh with speeds of 110-120 kmph on Sunday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The Kolkata Airport Authority of India on Saturday announced that it has decided to suspend flight operations from 12 noon on May 26 to 9 am on May 27 due to predicted heavy winds.
The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) met on Friday to review the preparedness for the cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, an official release said.
Deep Depression intensified into a Cyclonic Storm “Remal” (pronounced as “Re-Mal”) over Northwest and adjoining Northeast & East-central Bay of Bengal at 1730 IST of 25th May (Cyclone Warning for West Bengal Coast: Orange Message) pic.twitter.com/wvPOBDTm7J
— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) May 25, 2024
Cyclone Remal: Top 10 Developments
- Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport announced on Saturday that it will suspend flight operations for 21 hours from 12 noon on May 26 to 9 am on May 27 due to predicted heavy winds.
- The Met department said, “It is very likely to continue to move nearly northwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by May 26 morning over Northwest and adjoining Northeast Bay of Bengal and cross Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts between Sagar Island and Khepupara by May 26 midnight as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 110-120 gusting to 135 kmph.”
- Tripura issued an advisory for cyclone ‘Remal’, warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds and a cyclonic storm that will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by May 26, with heavy rainfall expected until May 28.
- The IMD has also issued a very heavy rainfall warning for West Bengal, Odisha and the north-eastern states. “The Depression over the east-central Bay of Bengal moved north-northeastwards with a speed of 15 kmph during the past 6 hours, intensified into a Deep Depression and lay centred about 380 km south-southeast of Sagar Islands (West Bengal) and 530 km south-southeast of Canning (West Bengal) at 5:30 am,” IMD said.
- For May 26, the IMD issued an Orange Alert for thunderstorms with lightning and gusty wind speeds reaching 40-50 kmph. Further, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places over the South Tripura, Gomati, Dhalai, Sepahijala, and West Tripura districts. The rest of Tripura has been placed under a Yellow Alert for the same day.