Cyclone Remal: Kolkata airport to suspend flight operations for 9 hours on Sunday

Kolkata airport will suspend flight operations for 9 hours starting from midnight on Sunday due to Cyclone Remal's landfall. The flights will remain suspended from 12 noon on Sunday to 9am on Monday.

A deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has intensified into Cyclone Remal and is expected to make landfall on the night of May 26 along the coasts of West Bengal and Bangladesh, according to the Meteorological Department.

The cyclone is predicted to have wind speeds of 110-120 km/h, with gusts up to 135 km/h. The Met office has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and northern Odisha on May 26-27.

This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this pre-monsoon season and will be named Remal, a name given by Oman as per the naming system for cyclones in the north Indian Ocean region.

The Met Office has issued an orange alert for Kolkata, Howrah, Nadia, and Purba Medinipur districts.

“The weather system - a deep depression situated over the east-central Bay of Bengal, about 380 kms south of Sagar Island in South 24 Parganas district is likely to concentrate into a cyclonic storm by Saturday evening and move northwards,” IMD said in a bulletin.

In northern Odisha, the coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, and Kendrapara are expected to receive heavy rain on May 26-27, with Mayurbhanj likely to experience heavy rain on May 27.

The IMD has warned of localised flooding and significant damage to vulnerable structures, power and communication lines, kutcha roads, crops, and orchards in the South and North 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal.