A low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal has concentrated into a depression and is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm and reach Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts on Saturday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest bulletin.
As per the IMD track forecast, the cyclonic system after moving northwestwards will reach West-Central Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh – south Odisha coasts around December 4 morning. Thereafter it will take a north-northeastwards curve along the coastline of Odisha.
Though IMD has not predicted the landfall place, its forecast bears a lot of agreement with the forecasts made by INCOIS and NCEP.
In view of this, the East Coast Railway has cancelled the operation of 95 trains for three days from Thursday. As a precautionary measure for the safety of passengers, 95 mail and express trains originating from different places and passing through the region have been cancelled from December 2-4, an ECoR statement said.
The Odisha government had asked collectors of 13 districts to prepare for the evacuation of the people and has chalked out a disaster management strategy by requisitioning NDRF, ODRAF, and fire department personnel for rescue and relief operations.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on cyclone-related preparation. He directed officials to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated. A red alert has been issued in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for Dec 4 (Saturday) in view of the cyclone.
