Cyclone Kyarr, which has been categorised as a super cyclonic storm, is likely to hit the coast of Oman around October 31, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday. Kyarr is the first super cyclone in the Arabian Sea since 2007, when Cyclone Gonu ravaged Oman’s coast.
“It is very likely to maintain the intensity of a Super Cyclonic Storm till October 28 evening and weaken gradually thereafter,” the weather department said in its bulletin. The cyclone is currently around 830 km west-southwest of Mumbai.
Fishermen have been asked not to go out to the east-central part of Arabian Sea till Tuesday and the west-central region till November 2. The Indian Coast Guard on Monday said it had deployed nine ships, two Dornier aircraft, and one Chetak helicopter to help locate and rescue stranded fishing boats. “Indian Coast Guard had identified and shepherded more than 2740 boats to safety at various ports,” it tweeted.
The weather department said “sea condition will be phenomenal over east-central Arabian Sea around the system centre till October 30 and will improve gradually thereafter becoming very rough to high from October 31”. Phenomenal is a code used by the World Meteorological Organisation to classify sea condition when the height of waves are over 14 metres.
Meanwhile, rainfall has reduced significantly in the last 24 hours in Goa, Karnataka, and Konkan coasts even as the weather department predicted heavy downpour in some parts of Kerala, The Indian Express reported.
Before moving towards the Oman coast, the cyclone is likely to bring rainfall to some parts of Gujarat in the next few days, the weather department said. “While Gujarat is spared of the super cyclone, it would bring non-seasonal rain at isolated places,” India Meteorological Department’s Ahmedabad centre Director Jayanta Sarkar told PTI.
Last week, a red alert was issued in Goa after the approaching storm uprooted power lines and trees, and left people on riverine islands stranded in the state.
The rapid intensification of cyclones, as seen with Kyarr, has been observed in recent years. It is making it difficult for scientists to predict the intensity of storms and their likely path.
Watch: How Cyclone Kyarr is disrupting life in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa
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