Cyclone Sitrang: Deep depression intensifies into cyclonic storm, IMD issues alerts

Cyclone Sitrang: A deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into cyclonic storm ‘Sitrang’, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday. In a tweet, the weather forecasting agency said the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into the cyclonic storm ‘Sitrang’ at 5:30 pm, 580 km south of Sagar Island and 740 km south-southwest of Barisal (Bangladesh). 

IMD Kolkata’s Deputy Director General Sanjib Bandopadhyay said 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. 

He said the height of the waves due to the cyclone will be one metre above the astronomical tide level. But since the new moon is on October 25, he said, the tide level owing to it will be five to six metres at West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts, so the effective height of the tide at the time of landfall on Tuesday morning will be around six metres in North and South 24 Parganas.

The IMD has predicted heavy rainfall for parts of West Bengal and Odisha. For Odisha, the department predicted light to moderate rainfall with isolated heavy fall at many places over coastal districts on 24th and isolated heavy rainfall over north coastal districts on Tuesday, 25 October. In Odisha, districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, and Cuttack are predicted to witness heavy to very heavy rainfall during the next two days. 

In West Bengal, light to moderate rainfall at most places with isolated heavy to very heavy fall is likely over coastal districts South and North Parganas, East and adjoining West Medinipur on Monday, 24th October. The weather office has issued an orange alert for these four districts on Monday. 

“Light to moderate rainfall at many with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely over coastal districts (South & North Parganas and Nadia) of West Bengal on 25th October,” it said. For these three districts, the IMD has issued a yellow alert for Tuesday. 

With inputs from PTI