Depression turns into Cyclone (RASHMI)

Cyclone brings rain rage

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta, Oct. 26: A cyclone called Rashmi is inching towards coastal Bengal, carrying with it the threat of heavy rain in Calcutta though the city does not fall in the storm’s path projected till late this evening. The Met office said a deep depression over west-central Bay of Bengal, which caused Saturday’s rain, had intensified into a cyclone and was headed for the Bengal-Bangladesh coast near Sagar Island. Cyclone Rashmi, rated in the low-intensity Category 1 till this evening, is expected to make landfall between 8 and 9.30am on Monday. “The cyclone now lies about 350km south of Calcutta and is expected to hit the Bengal-Bangladesh coast on Monday morning. The cyclone has been named Rashmi,” said G.C. Debnath, the director of the weather section at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore. Met officials said gusty winds at speeds between 60 and 80kmph were expected along the Bengal coast, along “with heavy to very heavy rain” on Monday. Officials also warned of heavy rain in Calcutta. The officials said tonight that the cyclone was proceeding in a north north-eastern direction and was expected to move into Bangladesh soon after hitting land. “Calcutta is not in the path of the cyclone. But it will cause rains in the city. We are keeping a close watch on the movement of the cyclone,” an official said. But he added that since 350 kilometres lay between the cyclone and land, a shift in course could not be ruled out. The district magistrates of East Midnapore, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas and West Midnapore have been asked to take precautionary measures, finance minister Asim Dasgupta said. ________________________ Extract from India Meteorological Website (http://www.imdkolkata.gov.in) CYCLONE WARNING BULLETIN NO. 2 Date and Time of Issue : 27TH October 2008 at 0100 hours IST. Information on Cyclone: The Cyclonic Storm “Rashmi” over Northwest Bay of Bengal moved rapidly in a North – Northeasterly Direction and lay centered at 2030 hrs IST of 26th october, 2008 near latitude 20.5 deg. North , longitude 88.5 deg. East and about 230 km south of Kolkata. Forecast : FURTHER INTENSIFICATION : Will intensify further. DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT : Will move in a North-Northeasterly direction. EXPECTED LANDFALL AREA : Cross West Bengal – Bangladesh Coast around 89.0 Deg East EXPECTED TIME OF LANDFALL : by tomorrow, Monday, 27th October Morning. ________________________ HEAVY RAINFALL WARNING Heavy to very heavy rain likely to occur at isolated places in Coastal Orissa and coastal districts of West Bengal during next 12 hours. Heavy rain also likely to occur at isolated places over Tripura, Sub Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands during next 36 hrs. Heavy rain also likely to occur at isolated places over Tripura, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar Islands during next 48 hours. ____________________________________________________ Comment by praful rao Judging by the predicted track, hopefully RASHMI will also miss us as did cyclones SIDR (Oct2007) and NARGIS (May2008) in the past. What never ceases to worry me is, what sort of defense mechanism do we have in the hills (except of course fervent prayer) against any of these monsters moving in our direction??