Landfall process of Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm 'Amphan' begins along West Bengal coast

The landfall process of cyclone 'Amphan' commenced as 'Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm' at 2.30 pm on Wednesday between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya island in Bangladesh, the India Meteorological Department said.

The landfall process will continue for about four hours, it said.

"The forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land in West Bengal," it added. 

The system is likely to move north-northeastwards after landfall and pass close to Kolkata in its eastern side causing extensive damage and flooding of low-lying areas of the city, the Met department warned. 

The Met department said the intensity of the cyclone near its centre as the landfall process started was recorded at 160-170 kmph, gusting to 190 kmph, which falls under the category of 'Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm'.

Several districts in the Gangetic West Bengal have seen heavy rain and gale wind since morning and the intensity of the downpour and wind is increasing gradually with every passing hour.

At 3.05 pm, wind speed at Dum Dum airport was recorded at 76 km per hour, the Met said.

The weather agency has issued heavy rainfall warning for over north coastal Odisha on Wednesday. Few places in West Bengal will witness heavy to very heavy falls at a few places while isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal, including east & west Medinipur, south & north 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogli, Kolkata and adjoining districts, will see extremely heavy falls on Wednesday and isolated heavy rain over interior districts on Thursday.