BHUBANESWAR: The depression formed over North Andaman Sea on Tuesday moved west-northwestwards during the past six hours and intensified into a deep depression and lay centred about 1,260 km southeast of Gopalpur coast, the latest bulletin issued by the IMD said.
The IMD has predicted that the deep depression will take the form of severe cyclonic storm from October 10. The surface wind speed will reach 130 to 140 km per hour on October 12.
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It would cross Andaman and Nicobar Islands close to Long Island by Wednesday forenoon. Thereafter, the system would continue to move west-northwestwards for some more time and then northwestwards towards north Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coast during the subsequent 96 hours. Under its influence, the State would experience rain and thundershower at one or two places during the next 24 hours, the weather office said.
The weathermen advised the authorities of Paradip and Gopalpur ports to hoist Distant Cautionary Signal Number 1 (DC-I).
With the IMD predicting possibility of the cyclonic storm moving towards Odisha coast, the State Government asked the Collectors of 16 districts to be on high alert.
The Collectors have been asked to direct all employees and officials to remain at the district headquarters during the period and call those who are now on leave.
The office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) directed the collectors of Balasore, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda, Nayagarh, Gajapati, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Malkangiri and Koraput districts to initiate measures to tackle the situation.
The Government also asked the district authorities to open round-the-clock control room to coordinate with different departments.
Besides, the collectors have also been directed to keep the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Fire Brigade teams in readiness to tackle any eventuality.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who returned from New Delhi after a six-day visit, said the State Government is fully prepared to deal with the situation.