PremiumNEW DELHI: Amphan has weakened into an extremely severe cyclone and as a result north Odisha will likely witness less damage compared to what was expected, the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
"Whatever impact was expected over north Odisha has already happened today. Heavy winds to the range of 90-100 kmph would still continue over Bhadrak and Balakot districts of Odisha for next 1-2 hours and after that no major damage is expected over Odisha," said M Mohapatra, director general of Meteorology, IMD.
Super Cyclone Amphan was the most intense cyclone to be formed over Bay of Bengal since the 1999 Odisha cyclone.
According to the weather department, wind speed over north Odisha districts did not exceed beyond 106 kmph, as was forecast. The wind speed would begin to decrease late evening and also the rainfall intensity. Heavy rainfall or adverse weather is is unlikely on Thursday.
Moderate to heavy rainfall has begun in the coastal areas in the state Tuesday night as the cyclone moved parallel to the coast. Though it did not hit Odisha, there was an associated impact.
Over 1 lakh people from Bhadrak, Balakot, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara distrcits had been evacuated by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams.
As many as 20 NDRF teams are positioned in the state and have started the relief operations. "We have already started operations in some of the areas, trying to restore the communications. The airlifting teams are also ready, if needed. The teams would leave only after the situation has been restored to normal," said S N Pradhan, NFRF Chief.
According to IMD, the North Bay of Bengal would begin to clear Thursday, after which the fishing operations could continue.
The landfall of the cyclone began around 2:30 this afternoon and by 7 pm, it could be completely over the land. As forecast, it made landfall along the West Bengal coast near Digha, close to Sunderbans.
Its likely to move northeastwards towards Bangladesh as a cyclonic storm and weaken into a depression.
