Two killed as Cyclone Amphan leaves behind trail of destruction

The first ‘wall cloud’ portion of the ‘extremely severe cyclone’ Amphan made landfall at Digha in West Bengal on Wednesday (May 20), accompanied by heavy rainfall, which resulted in the deaths of two people.

Two women, one from Howrah district and the other from North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, were reportedly killed when trees were uprooted due to heavy winds and rains that lashed Odisha and West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the cyclone will enter the land completely at 7 pm. The IMD said the process would continue for over four hours, and that Kolkata will be hit later in the evening.

Related news | In pictures: Cyclone Amphan batters West Bengal

The IMD had earlier said Amphan would be a super cyclone but later reclassified it as an ‘extremely severe cyclone.’

The weathermen had earlier said that the cyclone would rage in and blow over the West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha (West Bengal) and Hatiya Islands (Bangladesh) close to Sunderbans.

Amphan is anticipated to be one of the worst cyclones over the Bay of Bengal in decades and is expected to affect West Bengal and Odisha the most.

The cyclone has triggered rains in coastal Odisha and several parts of West Bengal.

Earlier in the day, Pradeep Kumar Jena, Special Relief Commissioner of Odisha told ANI that cyclone Amphan had moved down its originally forecasted path. It had already crossed Paradip, Kendrapara, Dhamra.

Related news | Cyclone Amphan likely to hit West Bengal today: All you need to know

According to the IMD, the storm may cause 4-6 metres of seawater to enter land.

Nearly seven lakh have been evacuated in both the states as a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, two million people have been evacuated in Bangladesh.

At least 41 teams of NDRF have been deployed in Odisha and West Bengal to help with relief measures.

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