Cyclone alert on Dec 4, fishermen warned

In neighbouring West Bengal fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea from December 3 to 5.Keeping in view the IMDs forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall due to the possible cyclone, Odisha Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena has asked the district collectors to monitor the situation closely.According to the forecast a low pressure area now lies over south Thailand and its neighbourhood and is likely to emerge in the Andaman Sea during the next 12 hours.

With the IMD sounding an alert of a possible cyclone hitting the coastal area of Odisha on December 4, the Regional Meteorological Centre here Tuesday asked fishermen out in the sea to return by December 2 morning and the state government instructed the district collectors to remain prepared to face any eventuality. In neighbouring West Bengal fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea from December 3 to 5.

Keeping in view the IMD's forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall due to the possible cyclone, Odisha Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena has asked the district collectors to monitor the situation closely.

According to the forecast a low pressure area now lies over south Thailand and its neighbourhood and is likely to emerge in the Andaman Sea during the next 12 hours. IMD director general Mrutunjay Mohapatra said the details like the landfall, wind speed and the expected rainfall will be known only after the low pressure turns into a depression on December 3. However, the possible cyclone is likely to impact the entire coastal region of the state.

"Fishermen are advised not to venture into the southeast and adjoining east central Bay of Bengal on December 2 and 3, west central and adjoining northwest BoB and along and off north Andhra Pradesh-Odisha-West Bengal coast from December 3 to December 5," director of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, H R Biswas said.

The fishermen out at sea are advised to return to the coast by morning of December 2, he added.

"It (cyclonic system) is likely to move west­northwestwards and concentrate into a depression by December 2 and further intensify into a cyclonic storm over Central Bay of Bengal during subsequent 24 hours. It likely to move northwestwards, intensify further and reach north Andhra Pradesh­-Odisha coasts by the morning of December 4, 2021," the IMD said in a bulletin. It will, however, not make a landfall immediately and will move in north-northeast direction for some time, Mohapatra said.

The IMD DG said that southern Odisha will witness heavy to very heavy rainfall and extremely heavy rainfall at places on December 4 and later similar situation will be seen in the northen region of the state. Jena instructed the collectors of districts falling under yellow (heavy rainfall) and orange (heavy to very heavy rain) warning category to be prepared to meet any water logging or localised flood-like situation, including in urban areas.

He also asked them to keep a watch on possibilities of landslides in hilly areas, to keep continuous vigil of low lying areas and to undertake de-watering measures wherever required. A district-level control room should function round the clock, the advisory said.

The IMD has issued 'yellow' (heavy rainfall) warning for Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts where heavy rainfall is expected between 8.30 AM of December 3 and 8.30 AM of December 4. The met office also issued 'orange' (heavy to very heavy rainfall) warning from 8.30 am of December 4 to 8.30 am of December 5 in 11 districts. The districts are Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Balasore and Jajpur. Extremely heavy rainfall is likle in one or two places in Ganjam, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts.

IMD forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in the 9 districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj from 6.30 am of December 5 to 8.30 am of December 6. It that squally wind speed reaching 50-60 kmph gusting to 70 kmph will blow over southeast and adjoining east central Bay of Bengal on December 2. From the early morning of December 3 gale winds speed reaching 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph is likely to prevail over central Bay of Bengal.

The wind speed will gradually increase to 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph over northwest and adjoining west central Bay of Bengal from the morning of December 4 for the subsequent 24 hours.

The sea will remain high over the central Bay of Bengal (BoB) from December 2 and high to very high over west central and adjoining northwest BoB from the early morning of December 4 for the subsequent 24 hours.

In Kolkata the weatheran said that since the weather system is likely to cause squally wind reaching gale speed of 60 to 70 kmph from the evening of December 4 fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea from December 3 to 5. The Met department warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of East and West Midnapore and heavy rain in North and South 24 Parganas, Jhargram and Howrah in West Bengal on December 4.

The weatherman said that heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at one or two places on December 5 in East and West Midnapore, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah and Jhargram districts, while heavy rain is likely in Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad, East Bardhaman and Malda districts. PTI AAM AMR KK KK KK

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)