Written by Naina Singh, a grade 6 student.

On Wednesday, Kolkata was hit by a devastating cyclone called Amphan. This is the worst cyclone to hit Kolkata in the last 100 years, which swept across India and Bangladesh. More than 85 people have died just in India! Many of Kolkata’s roads are flooded, and its 14 million people are without power. The cyclone spread across the states of west Bengal and began hitting the Sundarbands (which is a mangrove area around the India – Bangladesh border).

In Bangladesh at least 16 people were killed and more than 55,000 homes collapsed. The Indian Meteorological department or IMD has declared a cyclone alert for the Indian coastline across the Bay Of Bengal.

So, what is a cyclone? A cyclone is a large mass of air that rotates around a strong center point which has low atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure is pressure that is forced by the weight of the atmosphere, so low atmospheric pressure is when that pressure is lower than the area surrounding it.

Written by Naina Singh.