A cyclonic storm called Gaja, forming over parts of the Bay of Bengal, is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by early Monday, the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday. The “depression” had intensified into a deep one on Saturday evening and became a cyclonic storm on Sunday morning. The storm was centred about 460 km west-northwest of Port Blair on Sunday morning.
The storm is likely to cause heavy rain at some places over the Andaman Islands on Sunday. Heavy rain is likely at some places from Wednesday in north coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh. From Thursday, heavy to very heavy rain is forecast in Tamil Nadu, south coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema, the IMD said.
The storm is moving over the east-central and adjoining west-central and southeast Bay of Bengal. It will move west-northwestwards over the next 36 hours and then towards northern Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh coasts, and will then weaken gradually.
The weather department has forecast wind speeds up to 45-55 km per hour, gusting to 65 km per hour over Andaman Islands and north Andaman Sea during next 12 hours.
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