IMD issues heavy rainfall alert in Odisha till May 10 as east coast braces for cyclone
India Today
A low-pressure area that formed over the South Andaman Sea on Friday has become a well-marked low pressure area and is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by May 8, the IMD said.
A low-pressure area that formed over the South Andaman Sea on Friday has become a well-marked low pressure area spanning the southeast Bay of Bengal and is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by May 8, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.
The weather system is very likely to move northwestwards, intensify into a depression over southeast Bay of Bengal during the next 12 hours and further into a cyclonic storm by Sunday evening.
The IMD said the cyclonic storm is expected to reach near the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha shores early next week, and cause heavy rains in the east coast states. It is likely to reach the coast on May 10.
"We have not yet made any forecast on where it will make landfall. We have also not mentioned anything on the possible wind speed during the landfall," IMD Director-General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said.
The weather office also warned of thunderstorms with lightning and heavy rainfall over the districts of Gangetic West Bengal between Tuesday and Friday next week in view of the likely formation of the cyclonic storm.
“Isolated/scattered moderate rainfall very likely over Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal-Sikkim and Odisha during next five days with isolated heavy rainfall likely over Odisha on 10th May,” the IMD said.
Mohapatra has warned fishermen along the east coast from venturing out as sea conditions may be rough from May 9. He said, “We have estimated that the wind speed of the cyclonic storm will remain at 80-90 kmph in the sea. It will be further updated after the formation of the depression on Saturday.”
