Supercyclone Amphan commenced the landfall process around 2.30 pm on Wednesday and it will continue till 7 pm. Many districts in Odisha and West Bengal are already witnessing strong winds and heavy rainfall and coastal areas in West Bengal are expected to be hit by high tidal waves later in the day, said India Meteorological Department Director General M Mohapatra said here.

Addressing a press conference jointly with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Chief S N Pradhan, Mohapatra said the winds associated with the supercyclone are getting stronger. While Paradeep in Odisha so far experienced gale of speed 106 kilometre per hour (kmph), many West Bengal districts, including Kolkata, will witness stronger winds towards the end of the day. While districts like 24 South Parganas and 24 North Parganas will be subjected to 165-175 kmph winds gusting to 185 kmph, uprooting large bushy trees and blowing down palm and coconut trees, the winds in the range of 110-120 kmph will blow over Kolkata and two neighbouring districts Wednesday evening.

According to IMD, the impact of Amphan will minimise in affected areas of Odisha and West Bengal, subsequently but many parts of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim and Assam and Meghalaya subdivisions will received heavy to very heavy rainfall on Thursday. On Wednesday, however, many small rivers in the Gangetic delta would see intrusion of salt water for several kilometres due to strong tidal waves, affecting in standing crops on the banks of these rivers.

According to Pradhan, as many as 41 NDRF teams – 20 in Odisha and 19 in Bengal – have been deployed on the ground and 24 teams from six other battalions around the country have been kept on alert if need arises.

He said NDRF personnel working closely with the State forces in evacuating people from areas falling in the path of the cyclonic storm. Quoting State authorities, Pradhan said 5 lakh people have been evacuated to safety in West Bengal and 1.59 lakh in Odisha.

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