Orange alert in Kolkata?
On Thursday, The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, a cyclonic storm developing in the Bay of Bengal is expected to hit the coasts of West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh as a severe cyclone on Saturday, May 26.
Cyclonic storm Remal may coincide with the voting in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state on Saturday.
According to the Met Department, the IMD said that Remal is expected to hit the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh on the morning of May 26 with a speed of 110-120 kilometres per hour, gusting at up to 135 kilometres per hour.
It added that the severity will remain for 24 hours till May 27th morning.
Then it will lose intensity.
The storm is likely to turn into a deep depression on May 25 and as a severe cyclonic storm on May 26, the weather office said.
The IMD has issued an orange alert for light to moderate rainfall in Kolkata, Howrah, Nadia, Jhargram, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts.
"A well-marked low-pressure area over west-central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved northeast wards during the past 12 hours, concentrated into a depression and lay centred at 5:30 am on May 24 over the central Bay of Bengal, about 800 km south-southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh) and 810 km south of Canning (West Bengal)," the IMD said in its bulletin.
The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.