Chennai: Tamilnadu Revenue Minister R B Udhayakumar today said that people need not be scared about the Amphan cyclone.

He said that the government is closely monitoring the developments with regard to the storm. MET department has announced that Amphan is likely to intensify as super cyclone.

At present the storm is located 659kms east from the coast of Chennai. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into sea.

The cyclonic storm Amphan has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm over central parts of South Bay of Bengal and it is very likely to intensify further in the next 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department said.

In a tweet, IMD said, “The Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’ (pronounced as UM-PUN) further intensified into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm over central parts of South Bay of Bengal, at 2.30 pm on 17 May. It is very likely to intensify further into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm during the next 24 hours.”