INDIA: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday issued a red alert for four states after Cyclone Sitrang intensified over the Bay of Bengal. The states were warned to brace for heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy rainfall.
According to the IMD, Cyclone Sitrang will cause widespread rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy rain at isolated places was very likely to occur over Tripura on Monday and Tuesday.
The West Bengal government took all precautionary measures, including evacuation of people, and supply of cyclone relief packages to shelters to deal with possible devastation under the impact of the Cyclone Sitrang.
The Bakkhali Sea Beach in South 24 Parganas and shops on the beach were closed to tourists as civil defence teams were deployed after the IMD warnings. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to the people to stay alert for the rainfall which is expected to happen on Tuesday. She urged the people to avoid going out unnecessarily as well as to avoid sea areas including the Sundarbans.
As per the IMD reports, the cyclonic storm Sitrang, over the northwest and connecting the central Bay of Bengal crossed the Bangladesh coast between Tinkona and Sandwip close to Barisal from 9:30 pm to 11:30 pm on Monday with a maximum sustained wind speed of 80-90 km/h gusting to 100 km/h.
At 11:30 pm on Sunday, the cyclone was centred over coastal Bangladesh, about 40 kilometres east of Dhaka, 50 kilometres west-southwest of Agartala, and 120 kilometres north-northeast of Barisal in Bangladesh.
Cyclone Sitrang is expected to continue moving further towards the north-northeast and weaken into a depression over the coming six hours and to further weaken into a low-pressure area in the subsequent six hours.
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