During the early hours of Saturday morning, an area of low pressure over the east-central Bay of Bengal intensified, and has been named Cyclone Remal.
Cyclone Remal made landfall between Sagar Island in West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh’s Khepupara region late on Sunday as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued warnings for heavy rain, strong winds, storm surges, and rough seas. Cumulative rainfall totals through the first half of this week could reach 200-300mm across the majority of Bangladesh, north-eastern states of India, and West Bengal. More than 150mm is also possible across southern parts of Bhutan and western Myanmar.
The IMD expects damage to power and communication lines, flooding, flying debris, trees to be uprooted, and traffic disruption. In response to these warnings, the National Disaster Response Force has deployed 12 teams, with five more on standby. Rescue and relief from the army, navy, and coastguard, along with ships and aircraft, have also been placed on standby.
Kolkata airport in West Bengal suspended all flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday, leading to the cancellation of almost 400 flights, affecting 63,000 passengers. A massive evacuation was ordered for vulnerable coastal districts of Satkhira and Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, affecting nearly 800,000 people.
At the same time, temperatures across north-western India and Pakistan will remain about 4C to 6C above the climatological average through the next few days, with peak temperatures reaching the mid to high 40s celsius. The IMD has issued a red alert for heatwave conditions across Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and western Uttar Pradesh, with the effects including a very high likelihood of developing heatstroke or heat-related illnesses. In addition to high daytime temperatures, minimum night-time temperatures are unlikely to fall below 30C.
Multiple locations exceeded 50C this past weekend, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, and a peak temperature of 53C was recorded at Mohenjo-Daro on Sunday. Several regions across Pakistan and India are already facing water and electricity shortages due to sharp rises in power consumption, and Delhi recorded its highest power demand in history on 22 May. Eleven people have already died of suspected heat-related causes across western India and Pakistan late last week, with 486 suspected heatstroke cases in India on 22 May alone.
