Bhubaneswar, Sep 19 (PTI) A low-pressure system has formed over the Andaman Sea, and it is likely to intensify into a deep depression before reaching the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast on the morning of September 23, the weather department said and warned of heavy rainfall in Odisha under its influence.
The Odisha government has put 20 coastal and southern districts on alert and asked 10 other district collectors to maintain vigil.
“We have asked district collectors to remain alert and do the needful, in view of the weather forecast,” Odisha’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said, and asserted the state government was prepared to deal with any situation and urged people not to panic over rumours of a possible cyclone.
“Only believe government agencies like the India Meteorological Department (IMD), which has so far forecast the possibility of a deep depression forming off the state’s coast,” he said.
The IMD said, “Under the influence of the upper-air cyclonic circulation over the north Andaman Sea and neighbourhood, a low-pressure area formed at 5.30 pm on September 19.” The weather office further said that the low pressure in the Andaman Sea is very likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify gradually into a depression over east-central Bay of Bengal on September 21 and into a deep depression over west-central Bay of Bengal on September 22.
“Continuing to move west-northwestwards, it is very likely to reach west-central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal near south Odisha-north Andhra Pradesh coasts around September 23 morning,” it said.
According to the IMD, a deep depression is a weather system that is at a more intense stage of a low-pressure system and typically precedes the formation of a cyclonic storm.
Odisha’s additional special relief commissioner wrote to the district collectors of Ganjam, Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Balasore, saying that squally weather with winds occasionally gusting up to 65 kmph is very likely along and off the Odisha coast till September 23.
“It may be advised that fishermen should not venture into the Andaman Sea from September 19 to September 23,” the letter said.
The meteorological centre here issued an orange warning for thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty surface winds in Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Kandhamala, Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Gajapati, Ganjam districts till Sunday morning.
It also issued a yellow warning for thunderstorms and winds gusting up to 30 to 40 kmph in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghapur, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Puri, Khurdha, and Nayagarh districts.
Dr Manorama Mohanty, the director of the meteorological centre here, said that Odisha will experience very heavy rainfall till September 25, besides winds blowing at a speed of 40 to 50 kmph across the coast. PTI AAM AAM NSD
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