Barely a week after Cyclone Tauktae wreaked havoc on the western coast and left behind a trail of destruction, on the east coast of India, Cyclone Yaas is expected to hit coastal areas of Odisha and West Bengal on Wednesday.

As precautionary steps prior to arrival of Cyclone Yaas, Eastern Railways have suspended 25 trains between May 24 and May 29. On Sunday, the armed forces airlifted 950 NDRF personnel to the regions to be impacted by the storm, and 26 helicopters are on standby. Personnel from the armed forces and National Disaster Relief Force are on standby for rescue and salvaging operations.

On Sunday morning, the storm system turned into a depression (wind speed 45 to 55 km/hr gusting to 65 km/hr) and was located 560 km north-northwest of Port Blair, 590 km east-southeast of Paradip and 690 km south-southeast of Balasore in Odisha. The storm is 670 kms away from the coast of Digha in West Bengal and is expected to turn into a severe cyclonic storm by Monday night as per the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore.

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IMD has said that the storm system will intensify into a cyclonic storm by Monday morning. Once fully formed, the storm will be called Cyclone Yaas, named by Oman. Its name denotes a tree bearing fragrant flowers.

This cyclone is likely to make landfall on May 26 evening between Paradip in Odisha and Sagar Islands in West Bengal after intensifying into a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ with wind speed between 155 and 165 kmph as said by IMD. From Tuesday onwards, the storm will bring heavy rains in coastal areas.

IMD on Sunday has also said that Cyclone Yaas will lash Odisha and West Bengal with “highly damaging wind speed” and can be compared in terms of damage with the last year’s Cyclone, Amphan.

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Government of West Bengal has begun evacuating people from low-lying areas of South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts after the India Meteorological Department predicted about the landfall of Cyclone ‘Yaas’.

Authorities in Odisha have deployed 60 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) teams to vulnerable districts to help with evacuation. The Indian Navy is at sea ensuring that no fishermen are out in the sea in the wake of arrival of Yaas.

As per experts, the fast intensification of Yaas like last year’s Amphan is attributed to warming up Bay of Bengal, essentially meaning that climate change is the causative factor.