BHUBANESWAR: Sending the Odisha government into high alert, Cyclone ‘Yaas’ is on its way to cross the eastern coast near Balasore around May 26 noon.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, projected path of the system shows that it could make landfall towards south of Balasore and by then it would have upgraded into a very severe cyclonic storm.
The wind speed may hit above 160 km per hour, gusting up to 185 km/hr during the landfall, the national forecaster said. Sea conditions will remain rough and tidal waves of height two to four meters above astronomical tide may inundate low lying coastal areas in Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts around the time of the landfall.
From a deep depression, the system intensified into cyclonic storm on Monday morning as it moved north-northwestwards with a speed of about 12 km/hr and lay centred about 420 km south-southeast of Paradip and 510 km south-southeast of Balasore. It would move north-northwestwards, intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm during next 6 hours and into a very severe cyclonic storm during subsequent 12 hours. It would track north-northwestwards and reach north-west Bay of Bengal near north Odisha and West Bengal coasts by Wednesday morning.
“Yaas is very likely to cross north Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar Islands around Balasore on Wednesday noon as a very severe cyclonic storm,” said Director of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre, HR Biswas.The regional Met office has also hoisted a signal-4 warning for Paradip and Dhamara ports and signal-3 for Gopalpur port.
Global GIS solution provider RMSI said, nearly half of Bhadrak and parts of Kendrapara will experience around 155 km per hour wind speed on May 26 morning before the cyclone makes contact with land. Around landfall, the speed will drop to around 135 kmph at Balasore. Power infrastructure in Bhadrak and Kendrapara may take more hit.Nearly all the cyclone impact will be felt in Odisha and only a very small impact in West Bengal, said senior vice president (sustainability) of RMSI Pushpendra Johari.