Cyclone Asani Likely To Weaken, Won't Make Landfall In Odisha, Andhra Pradesh: IMD

Cyclone Asani: Coastal Odisha and adjoining areas of north coastal Andhra Pradesh are only expected to receive light to moderate rainfall from Tuesday evening.

Fishermen at Odisha's Puri district

New Delhi: Severe cyclonic storm Asani, which is raging in the Bay of Bengal, is likely to weaken over the next two days and won't make a landfall in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the IMD has said. According to the latest IMD bulletin, Asani will weaken into a cyclonic storm during the next 48 hours.

Due to this, coastal Odisha and adjoining areas of north coastal Andhra Pradesh are only expected to receive light to moderate rainfall from Tuesday evening, the IMD said. 

On Monday, the severe cyclone was moving towards coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha at a speed of 25 km/hour, packing gale force winds up to 120 km per hour.

"The cyclonic storm lay centred about 550 km southeast of Vishakhapatnam and 680 km south-southeast of Puri at 5:30 am on Monday," the IMD bulletin said.

"It is very likely to move northwestwards till Tuesday and reach westcentral and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts," the weather office said.

After Tuesday, Asani is likely to recurve north-northeastwards and move towards northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast. Thereafter, the cyclone will move parallel to the east coast and cause rainfall from Tuesday evening.

"The system will not make landfall either in Odisha or Andhra Pradesh," said IMD Director-General Mrutunjay Mohaptra.

Issuing a warning to fishermen to not venture out for the next two days, the IMD said very high sea conditions were likely to prevail over westcentral and adjoining south Bay of Bengal.

However, Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said the state government had made adequate arrangement for rescue operations.

"We do not see any big danger in the state as the system will pass around 100 kilometer off the coast near Puri," he said, according to a PTI report. 

Rescue teams of NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Services have been kept on standby and will take immediate action if the situation worsens. Cyclone Asani is a name given by Sri Lanka that means 'wrath' in Sinhalese.

(With inputs from PTI)