Cyclone Yaas landfall likely on Wednesday near Odisha's Balasore, warns IMD

Kolkata: Cyclonic storm Yaas is very likely to make landfall near Balasore in north Odisha with a speed of 155 kmph to 165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph, around noon on 26 May, the Met department said on Monday.

The system, which lay centred about 620 kilometres south-southeast of Balasore and 610 kilometres south-southeast of Digha in West Bengal over east central Bay of Bengal on Monday morning, will move in a north-northwesterly direction, Sanjib Bandopadhyay, the deputy director at the Regional Met Centre in Kolkata, said.

YAAS over Eastcentral BoB, lay centred at 1730 hrs IST of 24th May about 450 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 540 km south-southeast of Digha (WB), move north-northwestward, to cross between Paradip and Sagar Island around Balasore, during noon of 26th May as a VSCS. pic.twitter.com/wPYGm6Quqr

— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) May 24, 2021

It will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Monday night and further intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm by 26 May early morning, he told reporters.

"It will cross into the land between Paradip in Odisha and Sagar island in West Bengal, close to Balasore," Bandopadhyay said.

The system will have a sustained speed of 90 kilometres per hour to 100 kilometres per hour, gusting to 110 kilometres per hour , along and off Odisha coast on 26 May morning, he said.

"At the time of landfall near Balasore, wind speed will reach 155 kilometres per hour to 165 kilometres per hour, gusting to 185 kilometres per hour, along and off Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts in Odisha and in East Midnapore district of West Bengal," Bandopadhyay said.

Coastal areas of North and South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal will experience 90 kilometres per hour to 100 kilometres per hour wind speed, gusting to 120 kilometres per hour, he said.

Wind speed on 26 May in Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly will reach 70 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour gusting to 90 kilometres per hour, he said.

The districts in Gangetic West Bengal will experience wind speed of 55 kilometres per hour to 65 kilometres per hour, gusting to 75 kilometres per hour from 26 May evening to 27 May morning," the Met official said.

Yaas will lead to storm surge on the coasts of Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Bhadrak in Odisha, he said.

It will also cause a storm surge of two to four metres along the coastline of East Midnapore and one to two metres in the South 24 Parganas district, he said.

Sea conditions will be very rough to phenomenal on 26 May, the Met department warned and advised fishermen not to venture into the sea till further information.

In West Bengal, the coastal districts of East and West Midnapore, South and North 24 Parganas, along with Howrah and Hooghly are experiencing light to moderate rainfall in many places since Monday noon.

Moderate rainfall with heavy to a very heavy downpour at one or two places will occur in these places from May 25 owing to the system, the weatherman said.

On May 26, the spread and intensity of rain will increase with the possibility of "extremely heavy rainfall" in Jhargram, East and West Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Kolkata, Bandopadhyay said.