Bhubaneswar: The cyclonic storm ‘Jawad’ formed over west-central Bay of Bengal moved slightly northwards with a speed of 4 km/ph during the last six hours and lays centred at about 230 kilometre south-east of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, 410 kilometre south-southwest of Puri and 490 kilometre south-southwest of Paradip, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) regional centre here said Saturday morning.
According to the agency, the cyclone is likely to make landfall near Puri coast. The system may again divert to sea after hitting the coast. Possibly, the cyclonic system may also not hit the coast if it changes its path further, the agency further informed.
Also read: Odisha registers 193 new Covid-19 cases; 23 below 18 years
It is likely that the cyclone will gradually weaken and move northwards during the next 12 hours and again north-northeastwards along Odisha coast reaching near Puri around noon of December 5 as Deep Depression. Jawad is likely to weaken further subsequently and continue to move north-northeastwards along the Odisha coast towards West Bengal.
Meanwhile, red flags have been put up at the Puri beach to caution people not to go near it in view of the cyclone.
The intensity of rainfall is likely to increase Saturday. Red Warnings have been issued for Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts in Andhra and for Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha, for the day.
The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over West Bengal December 4 and 5 as well as heavy rainfall at isolated places over Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura Sunday and Monday.
Sea conditions will remain unsafe for shipping and fishermen in the central and north Bay of Bengal Saturday and Sunday.
PNN