Cyclone expected to make landfall on Sunday
Hudhud, also known as 03B, formed on the evening of October 7 near the Andaman Islands, leading to heavy rainfall in the region. (Photo: DC/File)
Visakhapatnam: The severe cyclonic weather system named Hudhud, currently 700 km away from Visakhapatnam, is set to intensify into a “Very Severe Cyclonic Storm” over the next 24 hours.
According to experts, the cyclone, which was expected to cross the coast at Gopalpur in Odisha, will now make landfall near Visakhapatnam on Sunday morning. In terms of velocity and windspeed, it is unlikely that Hudhud will be stronger than Phailin, which hit Odisha’s coast on October 12, last year.
Hudhud, also known as 03B, formed on the evening of October 7 near the Andaman Islands, leading to heavy rainfall in the region. The cyclonic system is now moving towards west-northwest and is gaining in strength. The US military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Centre believes that its strength could become equivalent of a Category-2 hurricane.
Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places, and isolated extremely heavy rainfall in East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts as well as South Odisha from Saturday evening.
The IMD added that a storm surge of about 1-2 metres above tide could inundate low-lying areas in all these districts at the time of landfall. Rough sea conditions have also been predicted from Saturday morning. Fishermen have been asked not to venture out into sea and have been asked to move towards a safer zone along the coasts.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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