Cyclone Remal: Kolkata Airport To Suspend Flights For 21 Hrs From Sunday Noon
In the wake of the impending cyclonic storm ‘Remal’, Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport has announced to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon.
“In view of cyclone Remal’s impact on the coastal region of West Bengal, including Kolkata, a meeting was held with the stakeholders and it has been decided to suspend flight operations from 1200 IST on May 26 to 0900 IST on May 27 due to predicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Kolkata,” NSCBI airport director C Pattabhi said in a statement.
Further, the Kolkata Port also announced to suspend all cargo and container handling operations for 12 hours from Sunday evening. The port operations would remain suspended from 6 pm on Sunday till 6 am on Monday, news agency PTI reported, citing the port authorities.
A low-pressure area that was first observed on May 22 in the Bay of Bengal has intensified into a more intense system, now located in the central Bay of Bengal. The regions which are likely to be impacted are West Bengal, Coastal Bangladesh, Tripura and some other parts of north-eastern states.
Here are the latest updates on Cyclone Remal:
According to the IMD, the cyclone is likely to make landfall around midnight on May 26 between Sagar Island in the southern tip of West Bengal and Khepupara in Bangladesh.
As per the latest forecast by the weather agency, the deep depression intensified into a Cyclonic Storm “Remal” over the Northwest and adjoining Northeast & East-central Bay of Bengal at 5.30 pm on Saturday.
At the time of landfall on May 26 night, Cyclone Remal is expected to have a storm surge of up to 1.5 meters, inundating low-lying areas of coastal West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Thousands of people are likely to be evacuated and brought to cyclone shelters from the coastal villages of West Bengal as the IMD has issued a red warning for districts, including such as South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah and East Midnapore.
In view of the cyclonic storm, the administration has built around 115 multipurpose cyclone shelters in South 24 Parganas, while over 100 such shelters have been built North 24 Parganas.
As per IMD, along with West Bengal, other Northeastern states like Tripura, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur may witness rainfall and strong winds.
Tripura has also issued an advisory based on reports of IMD of severe weather forecast. Revenue Department Additional Secretary Dr Tamal Majumder has said that an increase in rainfall actively accompanied by heavy rainfall and gusty wind at isolated places is to occur over Tripura from May 25 to 28.
Bangladesh has also geared up for the severe cyclonic storm. It has readied nearly 4,000 shelters equipped with adequate dry food supplies and water.
Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) is expected to issue a ‘great danger’ signal number 10 between 12 midnight and 1:00 am Sunday.
This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal in this pre-monsoon season and will be named Remal (meaning sand in Arabic), according to a system of naming cyclones in the Indian Ocean region.