Cyclone Roanu Moving Closer To Odisha Coast

BHUBANESWAR: With cyclonic storm Roanu moving closer towards Odisha coast, several parts of the state experienced heavy rainfall while the Indian Meteorological Department on Friday hoisted Local Cautionary Signal Number Three (LC-III) at all ports in the state.

The cyclonic storm formed over west central Bay of Bengal moved northeastwards at a speed of 25 kmph during past six hours and lay centred at about 160 km south-southwest of Gopalpur.

“The system is likely to move northeastwards along & off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during next 24 hours. After that, the system is likely to move east-northeastwards and cross south Bangladesh coast between Khepupara and Cox’s Bazar, close to Chittagong on the night of 21st May, as a cyclonic storm,” said a bulletin of IMD.

Under the impact of the cyclone, heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places over coastal Odisha and heavy to very heavy at one or two places over interior Odisha during next 48 hours.