Bhubaneswar: With a cyclonic storm brewing over the Bay of Bengal, the Odisha government has put seven coastal districts on alert, the PTI reported on Tuesday.
In a letter to the collectors of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Satyabrata Sahoo mentioned about India Meteorological Department’s forecast about the low-pressure area over southeast Bay of Bengal & adjoining south Andaman Sea intensifying into a depression and later into a cyclonic storm.
Under the influence of the anticipated system, wind speed may reach up to 40-50 kmph over the central Bay of Bengal from December 1, and it may increase to 50-60 kmph on December 2. As the sea conditions are likely to be very rough, should be discouraged from venturing into the sea from the morning of December 1 and those who have gone to the sea should return by that date, he wrote in the latter to Fisheries and Animal Resources Department.
The department has also been directed to ensure communication of warning/alert messages to fishermen, and boats in the sea.
The SRC has also asked the Agriculture department to take preventive measure for protection of paddy and other crops in the state in view of the forecasted cyclone and possible rain.
However, the weather agency has issued no weather or fishermen warnings for Odisha during the next 5 days. It has forecast light to moderate rain in districts of coastal and southern Odisha from December 3-5.
While weather models have predicted that the system may cross North Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts around December 5, Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre’s Director HR Biswas said the exact path of the system will be known once the low-pressure area intensifies into a depression on November 30.
The system is likely to develop into a cyclonic storm around December 2.
If the system intensify into a cyclone, it will be called Michaung, a name suggested by Myanmar. It will be the sixth such event forming in the Indian Ocean this year, compared to the customary four cyclones that occur in most years, and the fourth in the Bay of Bengal.
