Millions set to flee as storm heads to India, Bangladesh

NEW DELHI • The biggest cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal in about two decades has slightly weakened, ahead of hitting the coasts of India and Bangladesh today, with the authorities making preparations to evacuate more than five million people to safer places.

Cyclone Amphan, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane at present, is expected to have a sustained wind speed of 200kmh to 210kmh, according to the India Meteorological Department. The speed may rise to as high as 240kmh, it said.

Bangladesh is evacuating 2.2 million people from the coastal districts, State Minister for Disaster Management Enamur Rahman said at a media briefing in Dhaka.

The country also plans to raise the danger signal to the maximum level at 6am today and it will be impossible to evacuate people after the "great danger signal" is announced, he said.

The storm will be intense enough to damage crops, plantations, trees, mud houses and communication and electric poles, as well as disrupt road traffic and transportation of essential goods.

Large boats and ships may be torn from their moorings, according to the country's meteorological department.

The storm threatens the lives of people and animals as the wind speed is likely to be as high as 185kmh during its landfall.

The cyclone is set to cause further misery to India and Bangladesh, which are witnessing a slump in economic activities due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Indian economy is headed for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades, while Fitch Solutions last month lowered Bangladesh's gross domestic product growth forecast.

Amphan is forecast to be the worst storm over the Bay of Bengal since the 1999 super cyclone that hit the eastern Indian state of Odisha, said the weather office's director-general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra yesterday.

India's worst-ever cyclone had killed about 10,000 people in the state two decades ago.

The severe cyclonic storm is expected to cross coasts between Digha in India and the Hatiya islands in Bangladesh today, the Indian weather department said.

Bangladesh has prepared 12,078 cyclone shelters in coastal districts for 5.19 million people, Mr Rahman said on Monday.

The South Asian nation has also suspended river transport, including ferry services from all five piers, as the storm moves closer to the coast, according to the water transport authorities.

In India, about 25 teams from the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed on the ground, while 12 others are ready in reserve, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.

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