India’s Odisha, Andhra Pradesh on alert as Cyclone Gulab looms

The India Meteorological Department has said that a cyclonic storm, named Gulab, is likely to make landfall on Sunday evening in the coastal regions of southern Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh and has issued an orange alert, reports the Hindustan Times.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 26 Sept 2021, 07:23 AM
Updated : 26 Sept 2021, 07:23 AM

"It is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours and move nearly westwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts between Visakhapatnam and Gopalpur, around Kalingapatnam, by the evening of Sept 26," an IMD bulletin said on Sunday.

An 'orange' alert is issued as a warning of extremely bad weather with the potential of disrupting commutes with road and rail closures and interruptions to the power supply.

The IMD predicted light to moderate rainfall in most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over south Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

It said that heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places is also likely over Telangana and predicted heavy rainfall at isolated places over north interior Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Bangladesh is unlikely to experience much of the cyclone’s effects, Md Bazlur Rashid, senior meteorologist, told bdnews24.com on Saturday.

However, there will be more rainfall in coastal areas.

The Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla and Payra Sea Ports have been instructed to display Remote Warning Signal No. 1. As the cyclone is unlikely to have much effect on the Bangladesh coast, it is unlikely the warnings will need to be intensified, Rashid said.

The last severe storm experienced by Bangladesh was Cyclone Yaas, which hit the Odisha coast in May. Cyclone Amphan also affected Bangladesh last May, during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Cyclones on the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal region are named by the World Meteorological Organization’s regional agency on cyclones. Storms are named according to a list submitted by the 13 countries that constitute the region.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department’s Sunday forecast for Bangladesh says light to moderate thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely in one or two parts of the Dhaka, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Sylhet divisions, with moderately heavy rainfall in isolated places in the southern part of the country.