Odisha to experience max rainfall as ‘Asani’ turns into severe storm
The cyclonic storm Asani on Monday intensified into a severe cyclone and lay centred about 610 km north-northeast off Puri coast centraleast of Bay of Bengal, as per the latest bulletin released by the Indian Metrological centre.
The weather forecasting agency further updated that the cyclonic storm moved west-northwest with a speed of 25 kilometre per hour (kmph) during the past six hours and lay centered over west-central adjoining southeast of BoB at 5.30 am on Monday and will move northwestwards till May 10 and reach westcentral and adjoining the northwest Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts. Thereafter, it is very likely to re-curve north-northeastwards and move towards northwest BoB off the Odisha coast. It will likely weaken into a cyclonic storm during the next 48 hours.
The IMD further informed that even though the cyclonic storm gains momentum in the sea, it will remain a severe cyclonic storm and won’t cross the coasts.
On May 10, the cyclonic storm will lay centred west of the Bay of Bengal and further move north-northeastwards.
As informed by IMD director general Mrutyunjaya Mohapatra, the coastal areas will experience wind speeds of 40 to 60 kmph under the impact of the cyclonic storm.
On the other hand, Odisha Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena assured that there will be no impact of cyclone Asani in Odisha as it will move 100 km away off the Puri coast.
Meanwhile, a yellow warning with the forecast of moderate to heavy rainfall has been issued for some places of Gajapati, Ganjam and Puri on May 10.
As per the forecast, the districts of Ganjam, Puri, Khordha, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur will witness rainfall on May 11 and Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, and Balasore will most likely witness rainfall on May 12. Though, a high probability of witnessing maximum rainfall in the range of 7 to 11 cm, there is no alert of flood due to the cyclonic storminduced rainfall.
The Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) team was put on high alert in Ganjam, Puri, Astaranga, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara. The Collectors of respective districts were authorized to do the needful for evacuation if necessary, informed SRC Jena.