Collect articles and photographs from newspapers, magazines and internet about cyclone Amphan and cyclone Nisarga. Based on the information collected, explain the following points: 1. How the two cyclones get their name? 2. Process of their formation. 3. Destruction caused by Amphan in Odisha and Nisarga in Maharashtra.
Answers
AMPHAN CYCLONE :
1. NAME :
Amphan is the first tropical cyclone of the 2020 North Indian Ocean cyclone season. ... The super cyclonic storm got this name from Thailand even before it had shaped. It was projected back in September 2004 for storms over north Indian ocean. The word 'Amphan' is pronounced as 'Um-pun' which means sky. "Amphan", pronounced as "Um-pun", means sky. The name was given by Thailand in 2004, years ago. The name comes from a list by a grouping of countries, World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific or WMO/ESCAP.
2. FORMATION :
During 13 May 2020, an area of low pressure developed over the Southeastern Bay of Bengal about 1020 km (635 mi) to the southeast of Visakhapatnam in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The area of low pressure was located within a favorable environment for further development with good equator-ward outflow, exceptionally warm sea surface temperatures between 32 and 34 °C recorded in the basin, and low vertical wind shear. Over the next couple of days, the system became more marked as it gradually consolidated further, with bands of deep atmospheric convection wrapping into the system's low-level center. Moving northwards, the depression continually organised and became a cyclonic storm a few hours later, receiving the name Amphan. Intensification was temporarily impeded as moderate easterly wind shear disrupted the system's cloud pattern. On 17 May, conditions for significant intensification became more conducive as upper-level winds improved. As a result, Amphan underwent rapid intensification into a severe cyclonic storm, Furthermore, the IMD upgraded Amphan to an extremely severe cyclonic storm on their cyclone intensity scale. On May 18th , Amphan made landfall as a Very Severe Cyclonic storm near Bakkhali, West Bengal with winds of 155 km/h (100 mph). As it moved further inland, Amphan rapidly weakened. On 21 May, Amphan degenerated into a well-marked low.
3. DESTRUCTIONS CAUSED :
Cyclone Amphan roared into West Bengal around 20km east of Sagar Island in the Sunderbans on Wednesday, packing winds gusting to a top speed of 185 kmph, triggering torrential rain and leaving a trail of devastation across a wide swath of the state, from deltaic regions to the urban neighbourhoods of Kolkata. Amphan, the most severe storm in the Bay of Bengal since the Odisha super cyclone of 1999, made landfall between 3.30pm and 5.30pm, flattening houses, uprooting trees and electric pylons, causing rivers to swell and breach their embankments, and killing at least three people in two states according to initial reports. Two women died in West Bengal; both crushed by falling trees in Howrah district and in the Minakhan area of North 24 Parganas. Earlier in the day, a two-month-old baby was killed in a wall collapse on Wednesday morning after heavy overnight rains in neighbouring Odisha’s Bhadrak district. Neighboring Odisha saw significant effects, with wind speed reaching 106 km/h (66 mph) and rainfall up to 300 mm (12 in) in Paradip. In Bhadrak, rainfall reached 384.6 mm (15.14 in). Approximately 1,167 km (725 mi) of power lines of varying voltages, 126,540 transformers, and 448 electrical substations were affected, leaving 3.4 million without power. Damage to the power grid reached ₹3.2 billion (US$42 million). Four people died in Odisha, two from collapsed objects, one due to drowning, and one from head trauma. Across the ten affected districts in Odisha, 4.4 million people were impacted in some way by the cyclone. At least 500 homes were destroyed and a further 15,000 were damaged. Nearly 4,000 livestock, primarily poultry, died. The Cyclone was strongest at its northeast section.