Super cyclone Amphan bears down on India and Bangladesh

NEW DELHI — A crushing cyclone barreled up the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday, heading for a swampy stretch along the border of India and Bangladesh and threatening to unleash 165 mph winds and massive floods when it makes landfall Wednesday.

As the cyclone, Amphan — categorized by Indian meteorologists as equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane — neared the coastal areas, hundreds of thousands of people in India and Bangladesh were bracing for the worst and had started moving toward emergency shelters.

In the eastern Indian state of Odisha, authorities have fewer shelters to work with because many have been turned into COVID19 quarantine centers. Indian officials are now struggling to evacuate people and prepare for floods and destruction while still under a partial lockdown to fight the coronavirus. Humanitarian officials are worried that by packing people into shelters, coronavirus infections could spread even further.

Authorities said Tuesday evening that the cyclone was weakening as it moved closer to land. But officials said it could gain intensity overnight.

“Its impact is unlikely to be very severe if it maintains the current speed,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of India’s meteorological office.

Some of the emergency cyclone shelters were being filled to only 50% capacity to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

The storm is predicted to pass over Kolkata, one of India’s biggest cities.

In Bangladesh, officials said the storm could bring slashing rains to the muddy, wooden shacks of about 1 million Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar.

Amphan is expected to make landfall Wednesday afternoon, and the storm surge is likely to inundate low-lying areas.