Kolkata Airport will suspend flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon

Kolkata airport authorities have decided to suspend flight operations for 21 hours from Sunday noon in view of the possible impact of Cyclone Remal, an official said.

The precautionary measure was taken after a meeting of stakeholders of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport in Kolkata on Saturday.

“In view of the impact of Cyclone Remal on the coastal region of West Bengal including Kolkata, a meeting was held with the stakeholders and it was decided to suspend flight operations from May 26, 12:00 IST to May 27, 09:00 IST due to forecast strong winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall in Kolkata,” NSCBI Airport Director C Pattabhi said in a statement.

With wind speeds of 110 to 120 km/h and gusts of up to 135 km/h, the cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall on the coast of West Bengal and Bangladesh around midnight on May 26.

A low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal has strengthened into Cyclonic Storm Remal and is expected to make landfall between Sagar Island in West Bengal and Khepupara in Bangladesh around midnight on Sunday, the IMD said.

This is the first cyclone in the Bay of Bengal this pre-monsoon season.

The deep low-pressure area over the central-eastern Bay of Bengal intensified into cyclonic storm “Remal” and had its center about 360 km south-southeast of Khepupara and 350 km south-southeast of Sagar Island, according to an update from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday at 7:50 p.m.

The Met Office has warned of extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and North Odisha on May 26 and 27.

At the time of landfall, a storm surge of up to 1.5 metres is expected to inundate the low-lying coastal areas of West Bengal and Bangladesh.