IMD used latest technology to give accurate forecast on Amphan: DG M Mohapatra

The India Meteorological Department used all the latest information available to give an accurate prediction on cyclone Amphan, Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said on Thursday. He said the IMD gave accurate forecast on the cyclone's track, its intensity, storm surge, landfall time and weather associated with it.

"The IMD used latest technology to give the accurate forecast on Cyclone Amphan. We had predicted about its track 3.5 days before," Mohapatra said at an online briefing.

He added that besides satellites, the cyclone was also monitored by a network of Doppler radars along the eastern coast at Visakhapatnam, DRDO facility at Chandipur, Gopalpur, Paradip and Kolkata.

Mohapatra, who headed the Cyclone Warning Division prior to his elevation as IMD chief, said the cyclone's actual track and what the IMD had predicted was more or less identical.

He said the extremely severe cyclonic storm weakened and moved to Bangladesh at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

There is currently no impact of the cyclone in West Bengal and it will help the rescue and relief work, he said.

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Amphan had intensified into a super cyclonic storm, but weakened marginally before battering West Bengal on Wednesday.

At least 72 people were killed and thousands were left homeless in the fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in 100 years. It also wreaked havoc in Odisha damaging power and telecom infrastructure in several coastal districts.

The cyclone has now weakened into a deep depression, Mohapatra added. By Thursday night, it will weaken further into a depression.

The IMD said Assam, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall at most places. Heavy to extremely heavy falls at isolated places are very likely in these two states.

Squally wind speed reaching 50 to 60 kilometres per hour gusting to 70 kilometres per hour are very likely over western Assam and western Meghalaya.

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(Photo: PTI)