Cyclone Bulbul crosses West Bengal coast

Cyclonic storm Bulbul, which weakened from 'very severe' to 'severe', crossed the coast of West Bengal with a maximum wind speed of 110-120 km per hour gusting upto 120 km per hour into Bangladesh, the MeT department said.

"Severe cyclonic storm 'Bulbul' crossed West Bengal coast close to Sundarban Dhanchi forest during 20:30 to 23:30 hrs IST of November 9 with the wind speed of 110-120 kmph gusting upto 135kmph," the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said early on Sunday.

The cyclone had made landfall around 8.30 pm on Saturday 60 kilometres east of Sagar Island and 100 kilometres south of Kolkata.

Light to moderate rainfall at most places very likely over coastal dist of West Bengal with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places over North and South 24 Parganas, East Medinipur and isolated heavy rainfall over West Medinipur, Howrah, Nadiya and Hooghly during the next 12 hours, the IMD predicted.

 

The weather department also predicted light to moderate rainfall at many places with isolated heavy falls very likely over South Assam and Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram during the next 36 hours.

Earlier Kolkata Airport had announced that flight operations will remain suspended till 6 am on Sunday.

The cyclone had crossed the Odisha coast with gusting winds of 35-40 km with heavy rainfall in coastal districts of Bhadrak, Jagatsingpur and Balasore.

There were no incidents or accidents reported except for uprooting of a few trees and snapping of electric poles with nil loss of life, according to the Indian Coast Guard.

As many as 38 fishermen who had taken shelter at the fish landing harbour Talchua near Dhamra are reported to be safe.

The IMD has issued advisories to fishermen warning them not to venture into sea along and off north Odisha and West Bengal coasts during next 12 hours predicting sea condition to be rough along the coasts. "They are advised not to venture into north Bay of Bengal for next 18 hours," the IMD said.