Cyclone Remal: Landfall along Bengal coasts likely on Sunday

A depression in the Bay of Bengal is likely to concentrate into a severe cyclonic storm and make landfall along the adjoining coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh around May 26 midnight, bringing heavy rain in the coastal districts of the state and in north Odisha, the Met department said on Friday.

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This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this premonsoon season and will be named Remal, given by Oman, according to a system of naming cyclones in the north Indian Ocean region.

The system is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and make landfall between Sagar Island in West Bengal and Khepupara in Bangladesh, the IMD said in a bulletin.

The cyclone could reach a wind speed of 120 kilometres per hour (kmph) on Sunday.

The Met office has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and north Odisha on May 26-27. Extremely heavy precipitation may hit parts of northeast India on May 27-28.

Storm surge of up to 1.5 metre is expected to inundate low-lying areas of coastal West Bengal and Bangladesh at the time of landfall.