Eye On Bulbul: Cyclone Lies 135 Km Off Balasore Coast

Bhubaneswar: According to the latest update by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Cyclone Bulbul:

Location
—135 km nearly east of Balasore
— 80 km east-south-east of Digha
— 35 km south-east of Sagar Islands
— 125 km south-southwest of Kolkata
— 215 km west-south-west of Khepupara (Bangladesh)

Current intensity near the centre: 115-125 kmph with gusting up to 140 kmph. Landfall process started with the forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into the land.

Past movement: Severe cyclonic storm ‘Bulbul’ moved nearly towards north-east with a speed of 13 kmph during last six hours.

Forecast movement, intensity and landfall: The cyclonic storm is likely to weaken gradually and move northeastwards and cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Sagar Islands and Khepupara across Sunderban delta during next three hours around 11.30 pm of November 9 as a severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 110-120 kmph with gusting up to 135 kmph.

Rainfall in last 24 hours: Light to moderate rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall likely to continue over Balasore district during next three hours and over West and East Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas during next 12 hours.

Expected wind speed: Squally wind speed 45-55 kmph with gusting up to 65 kmph likely to prevail along and off Balasore during the next three hours. Squally wind speed 35-45 kmph with gusting up to 55 kmph likely to continue to prevail along and off Bhadrak and Kendrapara districts for next three hours. Besides, gale wind speed reaching 110-120 kmph with gusting up to 135 kmph likely to prevail along and off West and East Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas during next six hours and decrease thereafter.

Storm surge: Storm surge of about 1-2 metre height above astronomical tide very likely to inundate low-lying areas of South and North 24 Parganas and 0.5-1 metre height above astronomical tide very likely to inundate low-lying areas of East Medinipur during the time of landfall. Maximum extent of inundation is likely around 2 km over South and North 24 Parganas.