Cyclone Amphan hits land, already damaging India

Text by: RFI Follow

The super cyclone Amphan reached the Indian coast, and started to do damage. It is one of the strongest tropical storms of recent decades with gusts at 175km / h. Amphan arrived from the state of West Bengal, and quickly hit its capital, the huge city of Calcutta.

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From our correspondent in New Delhi ,  Sébastien Farcis

Night has just fallen on Calcutta and the storm enters the city with terrifying power. Wind gusts above 110 km / h wash the rain horizontally. Coconut palms are whipped like simple ferns and the 15 million inhabitants of this megalopolis are plunged into darkness.

Electricity is cut in much of the city, and in some places the electrical wires are swept by the winds and create violent and dangerous sparks. 500,000 people were evacuated in this state of Bengal, mainly near the floodable coasts of this Ganges delta, where the cyclone was blowing at 140 km / h on average.

Cyclone and coronavirus

The authorities want to prevent these evacuations from causing transmission of the coronavirus and affirm that the reception centers will be occupied at only 50% of their capacity, which is a real challenge considering the number of people to be housed.

The Amphan cyclone will continue its road to the northeast and move to Bangladesh overnight. Its power should then decrease, to blow at its heart, at 110 km / h.

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