Rains Continue In Coastal Andhra And South Odisha As Asani Weakens Into Cyclonic Storm

Bhubaneswar: The Severe Cyclonic Storm Asani over Westcentral Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 12 kmph during the past six hours and weakened into a Cyclonic Storm and lay centered about 60 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 180 km south-southwest of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 310 km southwest of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 550 km south-southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 660 km southwest of Puri (Odisha).

The cyclone is very likely to move nearly northwestwards for the next few hours and reach Westcentral Bay of Bengal close to Andhra Pradesh coast.

Thereafter, it is very likely to recurve slowly north-northeastwards, move along Machilipatnam, Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni & Visakhapatnam coasts and emerge into westcentral Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by today evening. Then it is likely to move northeastwards towards northwest Bay of Bengal. It is likely to weaken gradually into a depression by 12th May morning.

Due to the influence of the cyclone, all the coastal districts of Andhra are experiencing rains. The IMD has said that light to moderate rainfall may occur at most places while heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected at a few places, and isolated extremely heavy falls in places along the coast. Along with Andhra, coastal districts of Odisha are also witnessing rains.

According to the MET Department, heavy rainfall (7-11cm) is very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khordha, Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack in the next 24 hours. It also warned that squally wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph is likely to continue along and off Odisha coast during 11th to 12th May.