The India Meteorological Department on Saturday issued a yellow alert in several districts of North Andhra Pradesh and South Odisha in view of a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal, likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm late in the evening.
The storm will be named Cyclone Gulab , according to The Indian Express.
The depression is expected to intensify into a cyclone around 11.30 pm on Saturday with wind speeds in the range of 65 kilometres per hour to 85 kilometres per hour, the weather department said. By Sunday evening, the wind speeds are expected to reach 90 kilometres per hour.
“The deep depression will intensify into a cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours,” the weather department said in a tweet on Saturday morning. “It is likely to move westwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and adjoining south Odisha coast sometime during Sunday evening.”
At 2.17 pm, the weather department said that the depression was situated about 410 kilometres East-South East of Gopalpur in Odisha and 480 kilometres East- North East of Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
After intensifying to a cyclone, the storm will hit these two cities on Sunday evening, the weather department added.
The weather department has predicted light to moderate intensity rainfall in West Bengal, Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. On Sunday, the forecast has warned of very heavy to extremely heavy rain over South Odisha and the northern coast of Andhra Pradesh.
Fishermen have been advised against venturing into the sea till Monday. Telangana and Chhattisgarh are also slated to receive heavy rain over the weekend.
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