Bhubaneswar: With the severe cyclonic storm Asani inching closer to the Odisha coast, the regional centre of the India Meteorological Department on Monday issued rain/thunderstorm warning for five districts till 5.30 pm.
Light to moderate rain/thunderstorm with lightning is likely to occur in some parts of Cuttack, Khurda, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Sundagarh during the next three hours.
People have been advised to keep a watch on the weather and accordingly move to safer places to protect from lightning strikes, it added.
Notably, heavy rain battered Bhubaneswar this morning and again in the afternoon for a few minutes. Altocumulus cloud associated with the severe cyclone was also observed in Bhubaneswar sky and coastal Odisha.
The severe cyclonic storm, packing gale up to 120 km per hour, has been moving towards coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha at a speed of 25 km per hour but is expected to lose steam and weaken into a cyclone by Wednesday morning. The cyclone will spare Odisha but trigger heavy rainfall in the coastal areas of the state between Tuesday and Thursday, the MeT office had earlier said.
