Cyclone to skip Odisha, head to West Bengal , Bangladesh: IMD

BHUBANESWAR: In what has brought a major relief to the State government, the season’s first cyclone brewing over Bay of Bengal - now upgraded into a severe cyclonic storm by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) - is set to skip Odisha and move towards West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts.

The IMD bulletin late on Saturday said the depression over the south-east Bay of Bengal and the adjoining Andaman Sea intensified into a deep depression and lay centered at 5.30 pm over south-east Bay of Bengal, about 1,140 km south-east of Visakhapatnam and 1,180 km south-southeast of Puri.

The system is very likely to move north-westwards and intensify into a cyclonic storm over south-east Bay of Bengal on Sunday morning, and into a severe cyclone storm by the evening. The storm is likely to continue to move north-westwards till Tuesday evening and reach west-central and adjoining north-west Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts with wind speed reaching 90 kmph to 100 kmph and gusting up to 110 kmph as a severe cyclone.

“Thereafter, the cyclone is expected to re-curve north-northeastwards and move towards north-west Bay of Bengal,” IMD DG, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told The New Indian Express. The cyclone will bypass Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts. It is expected to move along the Odisha coast but weaken gradually due to cold waters in north Bay of Bengal by Wednesday morning, Mohapatra added.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Centre has indicated a similar path and suggested it is very likely to move parallel to the Odisha coast towards West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts. Meanwhile, the IMD has said that light to moderate rainfall is likely to commence in many places of coastal districts of the State from Tuesday evening and heavy rainfall is expected at one or two places in Gajapati, Ganjam and Puri districts during the period. Light to moderate rainfall is likely to occur at many places in coastal districts and heavy rainfall has been predicted at one or two places in Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack districts on Wednesday.

IMD has advised the fishermen to not venture into deep sea over central parts of Bay of Bengal on Monday and Tuesday, and over north-west Bay of Bengal on Tuesday and Wednesday.