Rains batter Bengal as state braces for Cyclone Asani; to recurve from today

Kolkata: Cyclone Asani, which developed over southeast regions of the Bay of Bengal, intensified into a severe cyclone on Monday. The storm will reach close to the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coast by Tuesday.

Heavy rainfall will occur in the coastal districts of Bengal from Tuesday to Thursday.

In West Bengal, disaster management teams, police and KMC employees have been asked to stay prepared. Boats have been deployed at strategic locations. SDRF and NDRF, Coast Guard and Navy have also been alerted.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur over East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts with squally wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph over north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

Severe cyclonic storm Asani over west-central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwestwards with a speed of 25/kmph and laid centred about 500 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 650km south of Puri (Odisha) on Monday. It is likely to move northwestwards till May 10 and reach west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts. It may thereafter recurve north northeast wards and move towards the northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast. It is likely to weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm during the next 48 hours.

The cyclone will not make landfall either in Odisha or Andhra Pradesh but will move parallel to the east coast and cause rainfall, IMD Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra had said in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

The severe cyclonic storm is likely to recurve over the sea away from the coast, and would not cross Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, or West Bengal, IMD senior scientist R K Jenamani added on Monday.

At present, Jenamani said the cyclonic storm is located around 450 and 500 km south of Visakhapatnam and Puri. "This system is a severe cyclonic storm at the moment. It is moving in a northwest direction with a speed of around 21 to 25 km in the last 12 hours. This will continue to move. It is moving towards north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha," he said, adding that from Tuesday onwards, it will recurve.

The weather office said that very high sea conditions were likely to prevail over west-central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal and asked fishermen not to venture out in the region from Tuesday for at least two days. It also advised that tourism activities in coastal areas and sea beaches be suspended till May 13.

In Odisha, two to three spells of rain occurred in districts such as Khurda, Ganjam, Puri, Cuttack and Bhadrak.

The Odisha government on Monday planned the evacuation of people residing in four coastal districts.

Distant warning signal 2 (asking ships not to come near the coast) has been hoisted in all ports in Odisha in view of the approaching severe cyclone.

It is likely to cause heavy rain in the southern part of West Bengal, including Kolkata, Howrah, Purba Medinipur, North and South 24-Parganas and Nadia districts between Monday and Thursday, the weatherman said.

Kolkata and its adjoining areas received a spell of downpour on Monday morning.

The weather office in Ranchi said Jharkhand will experience light to moderate rainfall, besides lightning and thunderstorm, in its southern, central and northeast parts from May 11 to 13.

Gusty winds at speed of 30 to 40 kmph are also expected in some pockets.