Cyclone Gulab May Give Rise To Fresh Cyclone, Warns IMD

Cyclone Gulab, having turned into a deep depression after crossing the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coasts on Sunday evening, may give birth to a fresh cyclone in the Arabian Sea.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday that the deep depression associated with Cyclone Gulab, which was located 65 km south of Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and 150 km east-northeast of Bhadrachalam in Telangana on Monday morning, will weaken into a depression by evening.

“This system will further weaken into a depression by Monday evening and move westwards near north-east Arabian Sea, close to Gujarat coast,” stated IMD’s cyclone bulletin.

The system will traverse along Telangana, Maharashtra and reach close to the Gujarat coast before possibly re-emerging on September 30. Very heavy rainfall is expected in areas of coastal Gujarat later this week.

In case wind speed reaches 68 kmph, the present system will be given a new name. If that happens, it will be the third time since 1996 when a cyclone after making landfall will re-emerge as a fresh system of ‘cyclone’ category in North Indian Ocean region according to IMD.

Very severe cyclone Gaja, which had formed in Bay of Bengal in 2018, had crossed Tamil Nadu coast and re-emerged in the Arabian Sea from central Kerala.

Gaja, which made landfall after brewing in Bay of Bengal for nearly 10 days, covered 3.418 km — one of the longest cyclone tracks.