Cyclone over east coast may turn severe: IMD
KOLKATA/ AHMEDABAD : A cyclone formed over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a “very severe” cyclonic storm over the next two days and set to head towards the West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts, skirting Odisha, the India Meteorological Department said on Thursday.
However, on the west coast, in a major relief to people of Gujarat, cyclone ‘Maha’ fizzled out into the Arabian sea as a ‘depression’ without making a landfall in the state, the IMD said.
The Centre asked states to take all possible steps to deal with it and ensure there is minimum casualty and loss of property.
Cyclone ‘Bulbul’, which lay around 930 km south- southeast of Kolkata, “might turn into a severe cyclonic storm by Thursday midnight and further intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm by Saturday evening”, leading to rough sea conditions, Regional Met Director G K Das said. Fishermen have been advised to return to the coast by Thursday evening and not venture into the seas till the caution was lifted.
“The storm is very likely to move north-northwestwards towards West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts,” Das said.
The maximum sustained windspeed within and around the area of cyclone ‘Bulbul’ had been recorded 70 to 80 km per hour, with gusts up to 90 kmph.
IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said the cyclonic system was being monitored to ascertain the direction of the storm and the possible location of its landfall.
The Met department has warned of heavy rainfall over the East Midnapore, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas from November 9 to 11.
Meanwhile, at a high-level meeting in New Delhi, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, P K Mishra also assured the states all necessary central assistance required in the developing situation due to ‘Bulbul’.
He also advised the states to take all possible measures to ensure that there is minimum human casualty and loss to property, an official statement said.
SHOWERS LIKELY FOR NEXT 2 DAYS IN GUJARAT The cyclone over the Arabian sea started weakening rapidly on Wednesday and turned into a ‘deep depression’, and then a ‘depression’ by Thursday morning, the Met department said.
The ‘depression’ is about 100 km south of Veraval coast of Gujarat, the IMD said in a release.
“It is very likely to move eastnortheastwards and weaken into a well marked low pressure area off the south Gujarat coast during next 12 hours,” it said.
The weather system would bring light to moderate rain in most parts of Gujarat during the next two days, it said.
“Maha is no longer a cyclone. It has become a depression into the sea without hitting the Gujarat coast. Rain may occur in most districts during the next two days,” the Ahmedabad IMD centre’s director Jayanta Sarkar said.
However, fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea during the next 12 hours as the weather conditions there will be “rough to very rough” with wind speed reaching up to 40 to 50 km per hour, said the IMD release.