BHUBANESWAR: The cyclone brewing over the Bay of Bengal will cross Bangladesh coast in the wee hours of Tuesday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday said the system will intensify into a cyclonic storm over central Bay of Bengal by Monday morning.
“It will continue to track north-northeastwards and cross Bangladesh coast between Tin Kona and Sandwip Islands in the wee hours of Tuesday,” said Director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre HR Biswas. Coastal and interior districts will experience rainfall under the influence of the system on Monday, he added. The IMD said that the system will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm but it may weaken during the landfall.
Director of Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC) of SOA University Sarat Chandra Sahu said the storm will move parallel to Odisha’s coast maintaining a distance of more than 150 km. The wind speed may not be very high and it may vary from 60 km/ph to 80 km/ph over Odisha coast, he added.
On the day, the well-marked low pressure area concentrated into a depression which moved northwestwards at a speed of 18 km per hour in last six hours and lay centered at 5.30 pm, about 860 km south-southeast of Sagar Island and 940 km south of Barisal in Bangladesh.
The IMD said squally wind speed reaching 45 km to 55 km per hour and gusting up to 65 km is likely to prevail along and off Odisha coast on Monday. Fishermen have been advised against venturing into deep sea area along and off Odisha coast between Sunday and Tuesday.