The Indian Meteorological Department announced on Sunday morning that a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal had intensified into a cyclone, named 'Asani'. Asani is the Sinhalese word for wrath.
The IMD informed at 10am on Sunday Asani was about 380km west of Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The IMD tweeted Asani would “move northwestwards and intensify further into a Severe Cyclonic Storm over east central Bay of Bengal during next 24 hours.”
Senior scientist at IMD Umashankar Das told ANI “There's no possibility of making landfall, it'll recurve and move parallel to Odisha coast.”
Das said Asani would bring rainfall from evening of May 10 (Tuesday). He said yellow warning for rainfall had been issued for three districts in Odisha: Gajapati, Ganjam and Puri. Heavy rainfall warnings for May 11 have been issued for five districts: Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and Ganjam.
“Heavy rainfall is also expected in West Bengal on Wednesday and Thursday this week, the weather office said, adding that intense downpour was also likely in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday and Wednesday,” NDTV reported.
Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea along and off West Bengal and Odisha coasts from May 10 till further notice.
The sea conditions near the Odisha coast will become rough on May 9 and rougher on May 10. The wind speed in the sea will increase to 80-90kmph on May 10.
Experts predicted Asani could have a path similar to cyclone Jawad that passed close to South Odisha in December last year.
(With PTI inputs)