Cyclone Amphan turns into “super cyclone”

Cyclone Amphan, which is expected to make a landfall in India’s West Bengal on Wednesday, has turned in to a "super cyclone", the weather office of the country said this afternoon. It had intensified into an extremely severe cylonic storm overnight, reports NDTV.

"The Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm 'AMPHAN' (pronounced as UM-PUN) intensified into Super Cyclonic Storm at 1130 IST of today, the 18th May, 2020." The India Meteorological Department or IMD tweeted this afternoon. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a "high-level" meeting this evening at 4 to review preparedness, Union Home Amit Shah tweeted. ". 

"To review the arising cyclone situation in various parts of the country, PM @narendramodi ji will chair a high level meeting with MHA & NDMA, today at 4pm (sic)," he wrote.

Several southern states were also hit by heavy rain due to the storm. A "very heavy rain warning" has been issued for Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim, Meghalaya till Thursday (May 21).