Updated: May 24, 2021 12:11 AM IST 
New Delhi: The depression over Bay of Bengal is very likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by Monday morning and further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the subsequent 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department’s National Weather Forecasting Centre said on Sunday. Sharing latest satellite imageries and ocean buoy observations of Cyclone Yaas, the IMD said Saturday’s low-pressure area, which became well marked over east central Bay of Bengal in the same evening, has concentrated into a depression over the area.
Authorities were busy airlifting rescue and relief teams and keeping defence aircraft and naval vessels in readiness as India braced for a second cyclone, which is expected to hit eastern coastal areas of Odisha and West Bengal on Wednesday, barely a week after cyclone ‘Tauktae’ battered the western coast leaving behind a trail of destruction. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday that the cyclone is likely to make landfall on May 26 evening between Paradip in Odisha and Sagar islands in West Bengal after intensifying into a very severe cyclonic storm’ with wind speed ranging from 155kmph to 165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph. It will start bringing heavy rain in coastal areas from Tuesday.
In Odisha, light to moderate rainfall is likely to take place at many places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the north coastal districts on May 25. Heavy to very heavy rains at a few places with extremely heavy falls is likely in Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Mayurbhanj and heavy to very heavy falls at a few places in the districts of north Odisha, namely Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Jajpur and Keonjhar is expected on May 26. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had on Saturday reviewed the state’s preparedness and asked officials to evacuate people from low-lying areas.
The IMD forecast suggests light to moderate rainfall at most places in West Bengal and Sikkim. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly districts of West Bengal on May 25. Extremely heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places over Jhargram, Medinipur, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places over Nadia, Bardhaman, Bankura, Purulia, Bhirbhum, Murshidabad, Malda and South Dinajpur districts on May 26. Extremely heavy rain is expected at isolated places in Malda and Darjeeling, Dinajpur, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Sikkim, Bankura, Purulia, Bardhaman, Bhirbhum, and Murshidabad on May 27. The West Bengal government earlier said it has taken all precautionary measures and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will stay at a control room set up for the purpose to monitor the situation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of the state and central agencies to deal with the situation and called for a timely evacuation of those involved in offshore activities. PM Modi asked officials to work in close coordination with the states to ensure the safe evacuation of people from the high-risk areas and stressed the need to ensure that the time duration of outages of the power supply and communication network is minimum and these links are restored swiftly, a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. Modi also asked the officials to ensure proper coordination and planning with the states to ensure that no disruption is caused to the treatment of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and vaccination against the viral disease.
The armed forces too are alert with the Navy putting on standby four warships and a number of aircraft. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has kept 11 transport aircraft and 25 helicopters ready to carry out humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations as part of preparations to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone Yaas, officials said. The Indian Navy said eight flood relief teams and four diving teams are positioned at Odisha and West Bengal to augment the existing resources. Four naval ships have been put on standby with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief materials and medical teams.
“Naval aircraft are kept ready at naval air stations INS Dega at Visakhapatnam and INS Rajali near Chennai to undertake an aerial survey of the affected areas, casualty evacuation, and airdrop of relief material as required,” the Navy said in a statement on Saturday.
Squally wind speed reaching 40 to 50 km per hour gusting to 60 kmph is very likely to prevail over north Bay of Bengal and along and off Odisha, West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts from May 24 evening. The wind speed will gradually increase thereafter, reaching 90 to 100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph in the afternoon of May 26. It will increase to 155 to 165 kmph when it crosses the coast on May 26 evening, a weather official said.
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