India Braces for Second Severe Cyclone in 10 Days

India braces for the second severe storm in about 10 days, with authorities in the eastern region preparing to evacuate people to safer places at a time when the country is battling the world’s worst outbreak of COVID-19.

Cyclone Yaas, equivalent of a category 3 hurricane, is set to reach the state of West Bengal and northern areas of Odisha on Wednesday, according to the India Meteorological Department. The “very severe” cyclone will bring heavy rains, with the wind speed surging as high as 180 kilometers (112 miles) per hour, the weather forecaster said.

The latest storm follows a severe cyclone in the west coast last week — the worst in more than two decades in western Gujarat state — that killed dozens after a barge sank in the sea. The eastern region was also hit by a cyclone in May 2020 when the wind speed of a category 3 hurricane reached as high as 185 kilometers per hour. Another one in 2019 had prompted authorities in the area to evacuate millions of people.

The timing of the storm poses several challenges for already-stressed authorities in the country, which is battling a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The infections, which have strained India’s health system and overwhelmed crematoriums and hospitals, have been spreading to rural areas, where about 70% of country’s 1.3 billion population live.

In neighboring Bangladesh, the government has constructed three times more storm shelters than usually needed to accommodate people evacuated from coastal areas, Enamur Rahman, state minister for disaster management, said at a media briefing in Dhaka on Sunday.

Precautionary Steps

Both Paradip Port Trust and Dhamra Port said all vessels at the anchorage will move to a safer area in the sea, while those alongside berths have been asked to keep their main engines ready to move to sea at a short notice.

Oil explorers working in the Bay of Bengal have been asked to take all advance precautions to maintain safe operations, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons said in a Twitter post on May 23.

The Indian Navy recovered 70 bodies last week after a barge and a tug boat, working for state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp., sank following Cyclone Tauktae that hit the west coast. The navy rescued 188 people, and some are still missing.

More than 10 teams from the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in West Bengal, while 18 teams have been sent to Odisha, the agency said in Twitter posts.

Sea levels may reach as high as 2 meters above astronomical tides and inundate some low-lying areas, the weather department said, advising fishermen not to venture into the sea until at least May 26.

–With assistance from Arun Devnath, Dhwani Pandya and Debjit Chakraborty.

Photograph: Children use a piece of cloth to shelter themselves as it rains in Allahabad, India on May 19, 2021. Photographer: Sanjay Kanojia/AFP/Getty Images