Cyclonic storm likely to hit Odisha, Andhra coasts by tomorrow evening; IMD issues yellow alert

In what could turn out to be another tropical cyclone this year, the Indian Meteorological Department has said that a well marked low pressure area is building up over the North and Central Bay of Bengal and has intensified into a deep depression. The weather department has also issued a Yellow alert for the residents of the North Andhra Pradesh and South Odisha coasts as it has predicted that the depression could transform into a cyclonic storm in the next 12 hours. IMD has said that the cyclonic storm is expected to cross South Odisha and North Andhra Pradesh coasts around Kalingapatnam by the evening of September 26.

The build-up of a low pressure area was under the radar of the weather department for the last 24 hours and IMD has been issuing related alerts every few hours about the cyclonic depression. In its tweet last evening, the IMD had only informed about the low pressure area developing in the East and Central Bay of Bengal. However, in its successive tweets as the situation evolved on the ground, the IMD not only mentioned that the depression has intensified but also warned of a cyclonic storm in the region. In the latest tweet released by the weather department, it also pin-pointed the exact location where the tropical cyclone is expected to make its landfall-Kalingapatnam. The IMD has said that the coastal areas of Southern Odisha and the northern areas of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh are expected to receive a tropical cyclonic storm.

The IMD so far has not made clear the intensity of the cyclone and the probable speed at which it is moving towards the Eastern coast of the country. The weather department is expected to release more information about the cyclone in the next 24 hours including its intensity, speed and coastal districts which are at the forefront of receiving the cyclone.

India, which has one of the largest coastal boundaries in the world, frequently receives tropical cyclones on its Western coastal front and Eastern coastal front. So far as the frequency is concerned, the Eastern coastal states including West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh have received more tropical cyclones than their western counterparts like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat and Kerala. India received two ferocious cyclones this year namely Tauktae and Yaas in the year 2021 in the coastal areas in the vicinity of Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal respectively.