Mocha to hit Bangladesh, trigger severe heat wave in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The extremely severe cyclonic storm Mocha, which was centred over Bay of Bengal about 590 km south east of Paradip on Saturday, was likely to move in a north-northeasterly direction towards Bangladesh, the Centre for Environment and Climate (CEC) of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) said on Saturday.

The cyclonic storm was expected to move parallel to the Odisha coast at a distance of more than 500 km and cross the Bangladesh coast on Sunday afternoon with wind speed reaching 200 km per hour during landfall, a CEC bulletin said.

However, the cyclonic movement would drag along all the moisture with it which was likely to trigger severe heat wave conditions over Odisha from May 15, it said adding the flow of north-westerly wind towards the state would cause rise in day temperature. The sea breeze from the Bay of Bengal would not be prominent during the period as heat wave conditions could persist for about a week.

Under the influence of the cyclonic storm, wind speed reaching 35-45 km per hour was likely to prevail along the coastal districts of Odisha while light to moderate rain in Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts could be experienced from Sunday forenoon, the bulletin said.