Bengal, Odisha gear up for very severe cyclone Yaas; landfall likely near Balasore on May 26

It will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Monday night

A deep depression located over the Bay of Bengal has turned into a cyclonic storm Yaas and is expected to hit several coastal districts of Odisha and West Bengal on Wednesday noon after intensifying into a very severe cyclonic storm. The cyclone is expected to make a landfall between Odisha’s Paradip and West Bengal’s Sagar islands near Balasore with wind speeds of 155 to 165 kmph and gusting up to 185 kmph. Large scale safety and evacuation measures have been taken in West Bengal and Odisha.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Yaas will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours and will further intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm in the subsequent 24 hours. It is currently located about 490 km south-southwest of Paradip and 580 km south-southeast of Digha.

Also read — Parts of east coast evacuated ahead of cyclone Yaas

“It is very likely to cross north Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar Islands around Balasore during noon of May 26 as a very severe cyclonic storm,” IMD stated in a bulletin.

According to the IMD, the cyclone will cause light to moderate rainfall in most places and heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the coastal districts of East and West Medinipur, South and North 24 Paraganas as well as Howrah and Hooghly in West Bengal on May 25.

The spread and the intensity of the rainfall will increase on May 26 with the districts of Jhargram, East and West Medinipur, North and South 24 Paraganas, Howrah, Hooghly likely receiving extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places and Purulia, Bankura, Bardhaman, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, North 24 Paraganas receiving heavy to very heavy rainfall at some places.

As for Odisha, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jaipur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhargarh will experience heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places on May 26.

Speaking to reporters West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that 4,000 relief camps have been opened in the state and nonstop monitoring for 48 hours from Tuesday will be conducted from a control room at the State Secretariat.

“The cyclone will affect 20 districts in Bengal. Fifty-one disaster management teams have been deployed in the state. We have made arrangements to evacuate 10 lakh people. Yaas may be more devastating than Amphan,” said Mamata.

Also read — Bengal facing repeated discrimination: Mamata unhappy with Modi govt's cyclone aid

Following a virtual meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with Chief Ministers of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, she accused the Centre of “discriminating against Bengal” as despite having a larger population than the two other states, it has been allotted a Central grant of Rs 400 crore while others were allotted more than Rs 600 crore each in view of the cyclone. Thirty-five NDRF teams have been deployed in West Bengal.

The Odisha government has deployed 22 NDRF teams and 60 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) in the state.