Cyclone Sitrang: Depression to intensify into storm over Bay of Bengal tonight

The cyclonic storm developing in the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm, and will make a landfall between Tinkona Island and Sandwip close to Bangladesh’s Barisal in the early morning of Tuesday

The weather department said on Sunday. Cyclone ‘Sitrang’ will majorly impact the Sundarbans spread over West Bengal and Bangladesh. The tidal waves may reach a height of six metres owing to the twin effect of the weather system and astronomical tide.

“Deep depression over west-central and adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a speed of 18 kmph during past six hours and is very likely to move northwestwards during next six hours and intensify into a cyclonic storm over the central Bay of Bengal,” the MeT department tweeted.

“The main affected area will be the Sunderbans in the coastal areas of North and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal and in Bangladesh,” Deputy Director General of Regional Met Centre, Sanjib Bandopadhyay, told news agency ANI.

Rainfall expected in these areas:

> The cyclone is likely to bring heavy to very heavy rain in the coastal districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas, and heavy rainfall in East and West Midnapore on Monday.

> Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly are likely to receive moderate rain on Monday and Tuesday.

> Meanwhile, heavy rain will occur in North and South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts on Tuesday, a senior official told news agency ANI.

> Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly and West Midnapore are likely to be affected by winds reaching speeds of 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph on Tuesday, and 30-40 kmph gusting to 50 kmph on Monday.

Bengal faced two very severe cyclones, Amphan and Yaas, in the last two years. On May 20, 2020, Amphan had hit the Bengal coast with a wind speed of 185 km an hour. On May 26, 2021, Yaas hit the Odisha coast at 155 km an hour but caused widespread damage in Bengal as well.