Super Cyclone Amphan

•Cyclone Amphan is a tropical cyclone formed over the Bay of

Bengal that has intensified and likely to turn into a “super cyclonic

storm (maximum wind speed is 224 kmph)”.

•It has been named by Thailand.

•Amphan is the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-

Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

•By the time it makes landfall in West Bengal, Amphan is expected

to tone down into a category 4 Extremely Severe Cyclonic (ESC)

storm with a wind speed of 165-175 kmph and gusting to 195

kmph.

What makes it a nightmare?•This is the first super cyclone to form in the Bay of Bengal

after the 1999 super cyclone that hit Odisha and claimed

more than 10,000 lives.

•It is the third super cyclone to occur in the North Indian

Ocean region after 1999 which comprises of the Bay of

Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the northern part of the Indian

Ocean.

•The other two super cyclones were Cyclone Kyarr in 2019

and Cyclone Gonu in 2007

Recent cyclones in the region

•From 1965 to 2017, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea collectively

registered 46 ‘severe cyclonic storms’.

•More than half of them occurred between October and December.

•Seven of them occurred in May and only two (in 1966 and 1976) were

recorded in April, according to data from the IMDs cyclone statistics unit.

•Cyclone Phailin in 2013 and the super cyclone of 1999 — both of

which hit coastal Odisha — have been the most powerful cyclones

in the Bay of Bengal in the past two decades in terms of wind

speed.

•Last year, Fani, which was an ESC made landfall in Odisha and

ravaged the State, claiming at least 40 lives.