On the other hand, coastal and Gangetic West Bengal are likely to face heavy rainfall during the next 48 hours as “Roanu” moves towards the state’s coastline. “The cyclonic storm Roanu would move north-east wards along and off West Bengal coast and cross Bangladesh between Khepupara and Cox’s Bazar, close to Chittagong as a cyclonic storm on May 21 night/May 22 early morning,” the MeT department said in a cyclone warning for West Bengal.
G C Debnath, director, MeT office issued a warning to the fishermen asking them not to venture into the sea. Officials said heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in most places over coastal Gangetic West Bengal during the next 48 hours.
A high level meeting was held in Nabanna on Friday to take a stock of the situation. Beside Debnath, the state Chief and Home Secretary also attended the meeting.
It is to be noted that the system is likely to move further north-eastwards along and off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in next 24 hours, the meteorological centre here said.
Under its impact, rain and thundershower lashed many places in Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts in Odisha disrupting normal life, the weatherman said.
While the port town of Paradip received maximum rainfall of 96 mm today, 85 mm rainfall was recorded in Puri, followed by 63 mm in Chandbali, 52 mm in Balasore, 31 mm in Cuttack, 29 mm in Bhubaneswar, 16 mm in Gopalpur and 5 mm in Baripada, it said.