Kolkata/Bhubaneswar: As Cyclone “Yaas” is feared to strike the Odisha and West Bengal coasts in a “very severe” shape, as deadly as last year’s Amphan, at a maximum wind speed of 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph on May 26 evening, the Indian Air Force has assigned nearly a dozen transport aircraft and more than two dozen helicopters from its fleet for large-scale humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations in the two eastern states.
Cyclone “Yaas”, which is gathering strength in the Bay of Bengal, is likely to cross the north Odisha-West Bengal coast between Odisha’s Paradip and Sagar Island in West Bengal by May 26 (Wednesday) evening as a very severe cyclonic storm, the India Meteorological Department forecast on Sunday.
“Satellite imageries and ocean buoy observations indicate that Saturday’s low pressure area which became well-marked over the east-central Bay of Bengal in the same evening has concentrated into a depression. It is now…