All flight operations at the Kolkata airport will remain suspended from 12 noon on Sunday to 9am on Monday as a precautionary measure for cyclone Remal which is predicted to bring in very heavy rain accompanied with high wind velocity in the city.
The IMD said on Thursday that a low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal will intensify and reach Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts as a severe cyclonic storm by Sunday evening.
On cyclone Remal, IMD scientist Dr Somenath Dutta said, “The exact location is 18.2 degrees North and 89.7 degrees… This system is very likely to continue to move nearly northward direction. It is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm over your east central and adjoining North Bay today. It will continue to move further northward. It will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by May 26. It is likely to cross Bangladesh and the adjoining West Bengal coast between Sagar Island and Khepupara by May 26, midnight as a severe cyclonic storm with strong wind speeds of 110 to 120 km/hr… Its impact is first of all heavy rainfall, strong wind and storm surge.”
In view of the storm, the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata have also decided to suspend all cargo and container handling operations for 12 hours from Sunday evening, officials said.
The decision was taken for the safety of dock workers, they added.
This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this pre-monsoon season and will be named Remal, according to a system of naming cyclones in the Indian Ocean region, the weather office stated.
The Met office has warned of very heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal, north Odisha, Mizoram, Tripura and south Manipur on May 26-27.
The cyclone is likely to make landfall on Sunday night along the adjoining coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh with a wind speed of 110-120 km per hour, gusting to 135 kmph, the weather office said.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy at Kolkata has inducted Diving and Flood Relief Teams, along with equipment by special Navy aircraft on May 24 and 25.
The induction of relief material designed to support people in distress in case of floods is also currently under progress, and would be completed before the Cyclone hits Kolkata.
All men, equipment and material would be ready at INS Netaji Subhas for immediate deployment as required in support of civil administration.
