Kolkata could be pounded with ‘heavy’ to ‘very heavy’ showers going up to 200mm at few places when the system ‘Remal’ would cross Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts between Sagar Island and Khepupara around Sunday midnight as a ‘severe cyclonic storm.’

According to the information received from the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), the system was closest to Sagar Islands at a distance of about 660km in the south-southeast. It lay centred at 11am, 710 km south of Canning and 700km south-southwest of Khepupara in Bangladesh. According to the weather scientists, the system that was in the form of well marked low pressure area yesterday, became a depression today and is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm by the next morning and further into a severe cyclonic storm by Saturday night.

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With continued movement of the system towards the north, the system is likely to cross the coasts between Sagar Island and Khepupara around Sunday midnight as a severe cyclonic storm. The weather office is anticipating a considerable impact of the storm over both West Bengal and Bangladesh. Kolkata, Howrah, Nadia and East Midnapore are expected to have high winds, reaching 80 to 90kmph gusting to 100kmph on 26 May while South 24-Parganas could have thunderstorms and wind and at a speed of 100-110kmph gusting to 120kmph. Even on Monday, the system is expected to remain as a cyclonic storm with wind speed of 70-80, gusting up to 90kmph. The high wind is expected to be coupled with heavy rainfall on Monday when the districts of North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Kolkata, Nadia, Hooghly, Howrah and Murshidabad are anticipated to bring rainfall 110mm to 200mm at few places.

Emergency control room at Sealdah division

With the cyclone brewing in Bay of Bengal, the Sealdah Division of the Eastern Railway alerted all its divisional officers to remain vigilant to minimise the impact of the system. A high-level meeting convened by the divisional railway manager of Sealdah to discuss with all branch officers on preparatory action against the upcoming cyclone, was held today. The division decided to open an emergency control room from 25 to 27 May with maximum manpower. Sensitization to combat the possible waterlogging and installation of pumps, tower wagons kept on standby, arrangement of DG sets and emergency light in all big stations, especially at Sealdah and Kolkata wherefrom mail and express trains proceed, are some of the measures the division decided to take to handle situations of emergency.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is also gearing up to tackle the situations of heavy rainfall during the upcoming cyclone. The civic body has decided to deploy more manpower in areas prone to waterlogging. It has also decided to take measures to ensure that the power supply at pumping stations does not get disrupted during the rainy period.