Kolkata: Amphan Cyclone entered land by 7 pm on Wednesday evening and reached Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal and its adjoining districts accompanied by strong winds with an intensity of 110-120 kilo metres per hour, said IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra. According to the official sources two deaths have been reported in Kendrapara and Bhadrak so far, and two deaths have been reported in West Bengal during the cyclone.

“The extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan will completely enter land by 7 pm. The cyclone is currently moving at a speed of 25-30 kilo metres per hour. Winds with a speed of 155-165 kilo metres per hour have been blowing in South and North 24 Parganas and East Medinipur districts of Bengal,” said the IMD DG.

The IMD DG Mohapatra cautioned that “the width of the wall cloud of the cyclone is around 120 kilo metres and the diameter of the eye is about 40 kilo metres. The rear side is also about 120 kilo metres. West Bengal’s South and North 24 Parganas will witness a lull as the eye of the cyclone passes through, but heavy rains, strong winds will resume in the next 30 minutes, as the second arm of the cyclone hits the area.” More than 5 lakh people have been evacuated from nearby coastal areas in the state and another 1,58,640 people have been removed to safer areas in neighbouring Odisha, with both states being hit by the cyclonic storm.

The landfall process began near Sundarbans in West Bengal at 2.30 pm this afternoon with the entry of the front sector of the wall cloud region, said IMD DG. India has also been issuing a cyclone warning to Bangladesh, he informed. The severe cyclonic storm will reach Assam and Meghalaya on May 21 and it will bring heavy to very heavy rainfall in these two northeastern districts, according to IMD.