Puri: Beach guards urge people not to go near the sea, during Cyclone Asani in the Bay of Bengal, at Puri beach, Monday, May 9, 2022. Photo: PTI
New Delhi: Severe cyclone Asani was raging over the Bay of Bengal, about 300 km southeast of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, packing wind speed of 105 km per hour amidst indication of a gradual weakening later Tuesday, May 10.
The system is expected to recurve on Tuesday night and move parallel to the east coast in the north-northeast direction.
“The severe cyclonic storm has already started losing steam and it will further weaken into a cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours as it nears the coast and makes the recurve,” Bhubaneswar regional meteorological centre director H.R. Biswas said.
He said the gale-force wind speed will decline to 80-90 kmph by Tuesday night and to 60-70 kmph by Wednesday evening.
The MeT Department has warned fishermen against venturing into deep sea till May 12, Thursday, as Odisha braced for heavy rain in the coastal areas. Rainfall was recorded in Ganjam, Puri and Khurda on Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the airport authorities in Chennai said ten flights, including those coming from Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Mumbai, were cancelled due to the cyclone, Hindustan Times reported.
Also read: The Next Pandemic, Brought to You by Climate Change
According to the report, at least 11 fishermen from Odisha, who were stranded for around eight hours in the rough sea due to the cyclone, were rescued on Monday with help of the Indian Coast Guard. They had gone to Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam to buy a fishing boat, and while returning from there, they were stuck in the sea around 4-5 km off the coast near Sonaput in Ganjam district after their newly bought vessel developed some technical glitches.
The Ganjam district administration has closed all beaches, including Gopalpur, for visitors for two days.
Sea condition is likely to remain very high on Tuesday, and become very rough on May 12 before improving thereafter.
Under the influence of the cyclone, Odisha and West Bengal had received heavy to moderate rainfall on Monday.
(With inputs from PTI)