Cyclone Jawad forms over Bay of Bengal, to travel along Andhra-Odisha coast today

Jawad, which intensified into a deep depression on Friday morning, rapidly strengthened into a cyclonic storm by noon. According to the latest satellite observations, it was located 420 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, 650 km south-southeast of Paradip and 530 km south-southeast of Gopalpur in Odisha.

Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General, India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday said that the cyclone will come closest to land near the Puri district around Sunday noon.

The maximum impact when the cyclone will intensify to ‘Severe Cyclone’ category in the form of very heavy rainfall and gusty winds with speed picking up to 110 km/hr between Saturday and Sunday. Such windy conditions are expected to prevail during the next 48 hours, the IMD said. It advised complete suspension of all fishing, tourism and deep-sea activities till Monday.

The maximum predicted wind speed ranging between 90 and 100 km/hr reaching up to 110 km/hr is expected to prevail between Saturday and Sunday morning. The maximum impact is expected over Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Puri, Ganjam, Gajapati, Bhadrak, Balasore and Nayagarh districts.

“The rainfall intensity over Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will increase from Friday evening. The cyclone is expected to travel along the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts during the evening hours of Saturday and will come closest near Puri on Sunday morning. The cyclone will then recurve and move north-northwest towards West Bengal, where heavy to very heavy rainfall will commence from Sunday onwards,” said Mohapatra.

“Presently, 46 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed across the three states that will come under the influence of Cyclone Jawad. All coastal districts have been covered and the teams have been already pre-positioned,” said Atul Karwal, Director General, NDRF.