Cyclone Asani is currently barreling towards north coastal Andhra Pradesh, packing a wind speed of 85 km per hour, the Met Department said.
The IMD scientists have given a warning of 'very heavy rainfall' for Odisha and Andhra Pradesh as cyclone Asani has weakened to a cyclonic storm.
According to Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district collector Ranjith Bhasha, "Cyclone is going to hit between Vishakapatnam and Kakinada on Wednesday. Heavy rains expected. Wind speeds can go upto 80kmph. People in low-lying areas alerted. Control room set up in collectorate, RTO offices and mandal offices".
The Odisha government has put five southern districts - Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Ganjam, and Gajapati - on “high alert", as they are likely to be affected by the cyclone that may touch the land between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam, about 200 km from Odisha.
As per the MeT department, light to moderate rain or thundershower is likely to occur in Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, and Bhubaneswar.
“It is very likely to move nearly northwards for next few hours and recurve slowly north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni, and Visakhapatnam coasts during noon to evening on Wednesday, and emerge into the west-central Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by night," the IMD said in a bulletin.
The Kolkata weather office department said the system is likely to cause light to moderate rain in the districts of Gangetic West Bengal till Thursday morning.
"Heavy rainfall is likely at one or two places over Purba and Paschim Medinipur, North and South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts of Gangetic West Bengal till Thursday morning," it said.
Kolkata recorded 44.8 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours till 8.30 am, the Met Department said
The IMD officials have advised fishermen to suspend fishing operations in the region as sea conditions are likely to be high over west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal till today evening.
It said a storm surge of height about 0.5 m above astronomical tide is likely to inundate low-lying areas of Krishna, East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh, and Yanam of Union Territory of Puducherry.
