Super Cyclone Amphan
Super Cyclone Amphan
Super Cyclonic
Storm Amphan was a very
powerful and deadly tropical
cyclone that caused widespread damage in East
India and Bangladesh in
May 2020. It was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the Ganges
Delta since Sidr of 2007
season and the first super cyclonic storm to occur in
the Bay
of Bengal since 1999
Odisha cyclone. Causing over US$13 billion of
damage, Amphan is also the costliest cyclone ever recorded in the North
Indian Ocean, surpassing the record held by Cyclone
Nargis of 2008.
The first tropical cyclone of the 2020
North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Amphan originated from an area persisting a couple hundred miles (300 km) east of Colombo, Sri
Lanka, on 13 May 2020
Tracking
north-eastward, the disturbance organized over exceptionally warm sea surface temperatures; the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC)
upgraded the system to a tropical depression on 15 May while the India Meteorological Department (IMD)
followed suit the following day. On 17 May, Amphan underwent rapid intensification and became an extremely severe cyclonic storm within 12 hours.
On
18 May, at approximately 12:00 UTC, Amphan reached its peak intensity
with 3-minute sustained wind speeds of 240 km/h (150 mph), 1-minute
sustained wind speeds of 260 km/h (160 mph), and a minimum central barometric pressure of
925 mbar (27.32 inHg). The storm began an eyeball replacement cycle shortly
after it reached its peak intensity, but the continued effects of dry air and wind shear disrupted this process and
caused Amphan to gradually weaken as it paralleled the eastern coastline of
India. On 20 May, between 10:00 and 11:00 UTC, the cyclone made landfall in West Bengal. The JTWC
estimated Amphan's 1-minute sustained winds to be 155 km/h (100 mph).
Amphan rapidly weakened once inland, and it became a remnant low by 12:00 UTC
on 21 May 2020.
At least 88 killed, thousands of homes destroyed and millions remain without power as the cyclone batters the region.
Coastal areas in Odisha as well as Kolkata, Hooghly, Howrah, East
Midnapur, North
24 Parganas, and South
24 Parganas in West Bengal were affected by the cyclone. It also
caused significant destruction in Bangladesh.
The storm comes as both India and Bangladesh
struggle to bring local coronavirus outbreaks under control. India passed over 100,000 confirmed infections on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins
University, recording its largest single-day surge yet with 5,242 recent cases.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's infection count is rapidly rising, with
over 1,300 recent cases on Sunday, its biggest rise yet. The
country has recorded 23,870 confirmed infections, according to Johns Hopkins.
Tackling both disasters at once will challenge for the two
governments, especially if they attempt to maintain social distancing in packed
evacuation centers and emergency shelters.
"(All NDRF workers) have to be masked, everyone has to wear a visor, gloves ... It's almost certain that they will go to do rescue work
in red (heavily infected) zones ... They may be rescuing people who
are already infected. It is a double challenge," NDRF Director-General
Pradhan said.
Pradeep Jena, special relief commissioner for India's Odisha
State, said emergency services had to balance saving lives from the cyclone
with saving lives from the coronavirus.
Jena said in evacuation centers, they were trying to keep the
elderly and pregnant women separate from the rest of the population and were
working hard to obtain adequate soap for the shelters.
"Social distancing is definitely a very good concept but
enforcing it in the strictest possible manner in a disaster situation may not
always be possible," he said.
Cyclone Amphan could also bring heavy rains to the world's
largest refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, where almost 1 million Rohingya refugees
live after fleeing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
The first known Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the camp last a week and with the storm now imminent, the two disasters could make for a
devastating combination.
One human rights advocate said that a novel coronavirus the outbreak in the camp would be a "nightmare scenario."
"The prevalence of underlying health conditions among
refugees and the deteriorating sanitary conditions sure to come with the
looming monsoon and flooding season make for a witch's brew of conditions in
which the virus is sure to thrive," said Daniel P. Sullivan, who works for
the US-based organization Refugees International
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