CYCLONE KYANT TO HIT ODISHA

KOLKATA: A cyclone packing winds up to 100 km per hour will smash into coastal Odisha later this week and potentially dampen Diwali celebrations in Bengal, Met officials said on Tuesday.

Cyclone Kyant, which means crocodile in the Mon language spoken in parts of Myanmar and Thailand, is also expected to dump heavy rains along the coast of the two states.

Indian meteorological department’s cyclone warning division head M Mohapatra said the cyclonic depression was located 540km northwest of Port Blair at around 5.30 am on Tuesday. “It is expected to intensify into a cyclone by Tuesday evening and reach the west-central area of Bay of Bengal (close to the Andhra Pradesh–Odisha coastline) by Friday,” he added.

Though Kyant is not expected to be as devastating as earlier cyclones such as Aila, Phailin and Hudhud, fishermen have been warned not to venture out into the sea.

Though IMD officials were yet to ascertain the exact place and time the cyclone would hit the country’s eastern coast, private weather forecasting agency Skymet said it could hit north Odisha. Experts said such developments are “common” in postmonsoon cyclone period.

Experts said such developments are “common” in post-monsoon cyclone period. Cyclones Phailin and Hudhud battered the Odisha coast during the post-monsoon period in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Sanjeeb Bandyopadhyay, deputy director general (meteorology) of IMD’s regional office in Kolkata, said cyclones that form over the Bay of Bengal would either be those that develop over southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining Andaman Sea, or were remnants of typhoons over northwest Pacific. “

They move across southChina Sea to Indian seas,” he added. “Kyant was, however, born over the Bay of Bengal and not a remnant.”

CYCLONE KYANT, WHICH MEANS CROCODILE IN THE MON LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN MYANMAR AND THAILAND, IS EXPECTED TO DUMP RAINS ALONG THE COAST OF THE STATES