Cyclone Amphan weakens significantly, currently lays over Bangladesh: IMD

Kolkata, May 21: The India Meteorological Department said on Thursday that 'Amphan' has weakened significantly and moved over to Bangladesh as a cyclonic storm after clobbering West Bengal, leaving at least 12 dead and blowing up shanties, uprooting thousands of trees and swamping low-lying areas.

In the next three to six hours it will further dissipate into a deep depression and a depression, the two stages that signify a further weakening of the cyclone, it said.

The IMD said under the influence of the storm, squalls with wind speed 30 to 40 kilometres per hour are very likely in Meghalaya and west Assam during the next 12 hours. The western districts of Assam and Meghalaya will also witness "light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places", it added.

According to the weatherman, Amphan was the fiercest cyclone to hit West Bengal in the last 100 years. The extremely severe cyclone packing winds of up to 190 kmph rampaged through coastal Odisha and West Bengal on Wednesday, dumping heavy rain, swamping homes and farmland. Kolkata and several other parts of West Bengal wore a battered look on Thursday after the extremely severe cyclone 'Amphan' ripped through the state.

Large parts of Kolkata and other affected districts were without electricity as power poles had been blown away. Mobile and internet services were also down as the cyclone had damaged several communication towers Senior state officials said it was too early to estimate a toll on life or damage to property as the hardest-hit areas were still not accessible.