Bhubaneswar: The cyclonic storm ‘Phethai’ formed over the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify further into a severe cyclone in the next 24 hours as per the latest bulletin of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here on Sunday.
Though the cyclone is expected to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Machlipatnam and Kakinada by Monday, it is likely to trigger heavy to very heavy rainfall in several parts of Odisha from Sunday night.
The IMD Regional Office here said that isolated places in Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada and Kalahandi districts would experience heavy rainfall from today while many places in Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nuapada, Baragarh, Balangir, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts would receive rainfall on Monday.
The ‘Pethai’ over the southwest Bay of Bengal moved further north-northwestwards with a speed of 13 kmph during the last six hours and lay centred over the southwest Bay of Bengal, about 460 km east-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 530 km southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and 690 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
“There will be heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Odisha, south Chhattisgarh on December 16 and December 17,” added the IMD.
The IMD also warned fishermen not to venture into deep sea areas of west-central and the adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal.
The farmers in the State were advised to take necessary measures to protect their crops in view of the rains forecast.
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