5 Facts On Cyclone Amphan At This Hour

 5 Facts On Cyclone Amphan At This Hour

• A storm surge - as high as five meters above the astronomical tide - will inundate the low-lying coastal areas in Bengal, India Meteorological Department director-general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra has said.​
• This afternoon, the storm lay centered as an "extremely severe cyclonic storm" over northwest Bay of Bengal, just 95 km from West Bengal's Digha town, the IMD said in its hourly bulletin at 1 pm. 
• Amphan, pronounced as "Um-pun",  will cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coast between Digha and Hatiya island, close to Sunderbans, after 4 PM and with a wind speed of 155-165 km per hour gusting to 185 km per hour.  
• Nearly five lakh people have been evacuated to safety in Bengal and Odisha, National Disaster Response Force chief SN Pradhan said. told NDTV today, calling the storm a "double challenge". "Social distancing is a huge concern during these evacuations," he said. In Bangladesh, more than 20 million have been evacuated to safety

Amphan explosively intensifying on May 20

• Indian Navy is constantly monitoring developments in Bay of Bengal. Naval ships have been kept on standby in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam.