The landfall of a cyclone happens when the outermost wall of the cyclone begins to move onto land. Depending on the size of the storm and the speed at which it advances once it hits land, the process can take several hours to complete.

Since landfall is associated with gale winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall, the maximum damage over the location occurs during these hours. The most crucial time of the landfall is when the eye of the cyclone, or the central region of the storm, crosses over the land. As per the 8.30pm Sunday satellite images, this centre was located 30kms away from the coast.

Satellite images showed that the cyclone’s forward wall had begun to enter the land close to the Bangladesh-West Bengal coasts.

The latest wind speeds along this coast measured 110 – 120km/hr gusting to 135km/hr Cyclone Remal was located 118km east-southeast of Sagar islands in West Bengal, 125km southwest of Khepupara in Bangladesh and the landfall is expected to take place between these two locations close to Sunday midnight.

Moderate intensity rainfall accompanied by intense winds were experienced over southern districts of West Bengal. Since 8.30am on Sunday, moderate intensity rainfall was recorded over Digha (45mm) and Digha (34mm) and areas in 24 South Pargana ranged between 25 – 35mm.

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The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) warned of high waves measuring 3.5 – 7.2 meters till Monday night to affect the coast of West Bengal between Digha and Bakkhali.