Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday urged people of Bengal to stay indoors between the early hours and midday on Wednesday when Cyclone Yaas is likely to make landfall in Odisha.

“Even if it is an emergency, please try to get the work done over the phone so that you don’t have to physically venture out. At least wait till noon, since the impact of the landfall is supposed to take place by then,” she said in the latter of her two news conferences at the state secretariat.

“The effect is likely to stay for two to three hours after landfall. Thus, the effect might be felt till evening tomorrow. Rain and storm might intensify from midnight on Tuesday,” she said.

Mamata said that she, along with senior officials, would monitor the situation from Nabanna through the night and take necessary action. “We cannot fight Mother Nature.… But we can at least minimise the damage and we are trying our best,” she said.

The Bengal government has gone to great lengths to prepare ahead of the landfall to ensure loss of life is minimised.

“We learnt a lesson from Amphan. The devastation we had seen during Amphan is still raw in our memory…. It happened last year on May 20,” Mamata said.

Ahead of Yaas, the state government had evacuated over 11 lakh people.