The Bay of Bengal’s fiercest cyclone this century was bearing down on millions of people in eastern India and Bangladesh on Wednesday, with forecasts …
The Bay of Bengal’s fiercest cyclone this century was bearing down on millions of people in eastern India and Bangladesh on Wednesday, with forecasts of a potentially devastating and deadly storm surge.
Authorities have scrambled to stage mass evacuations away from the path of Amphan, which is only the second “super cyclone” to form in the northeastern Indian Ocean since records began.
But their efforts have been hampered by the need to follow strict precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, with infection numbers still soaring in both countries.
Out at sea the vast weather system visible from space packed winds of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 mph), the equivalent of a category four hurricane.
It was expected to ease slightly before crossing the coasts of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh after 0900 GMT.
Authorities have scrambled to stage mass evacuations away from the path of Amphan, such as in the village of Dhalchar on Bangladesh’s Bhola Island
-, District Administration of Bhola/AFP
But the storm could still be strong enough to “cause large-scale and extensive damage”, said the head of India’s weather office Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.
Along with “very heavy rainfall” the system was expected to result in a storm surge pushing the sea level several metres higher, his office said.
