At around 7:30 hours today, the eye of cyclone Gulab is just 15-20km away. The landfall is taking place in Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh (near Sadhipeta village).
A glance at the satellite image shows the danger hours for Odisha are not yet over. Given the system is moving in the west direction, model forecasts hint that the eye may pass over Malkangiri districts in the next 3 hours.
Whereas, the heavy dense cloud band (see the main image) will be moving over Koraput and Rayagada districts.
As per reports, the sustained wind speed of Cyclone Gulab during the landfall has been around 75 km/hr. And the prediction shows a sustained wind speed of around 65-70km/hr sweeping the Malkangiri district. Koraput and Rayagada will be recording wind speed between 50-60 km/hr.
Impact On Ganjam, Gajapati
In the night hours (around 11:30 pm), many places in the Ganjam district, including Berhampur, will record rainfall in the range of 24-50mm per hour. Most places in the Ganjam district will be recording rainfall of 10mm/hr or more during the midnight hours today.
Rainfall in the range of 10mm'hour predicted at many places in Gajapati during the midnight hours today.
Impact On Koraput, Rayagada And Malkangiri
Very heavy rainfall in the range of 30-40mm/hr will lash the Koraput district by around 2:30-3 am in the night today. Later heavy downpour is predicted in Malakngiri. Heavy rainfall will continue in the districts till 7 am on Monday morning (Sept 27).
Impact On Other Coastal Districts
Given the system's southern bias, except Puri, districts like Khodha, including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Balasore are not going to record any significant amount of rainfall tonight and tomorrow morning.
There is no forecast of any significant rainfall for Bhubaneswar on Monday.
Cyclone Gulab - A long Distance Runner
As per model predictions, Cyclone Gulab will hit Gujarat and Maharashtra as a low pressure area, and then merge into the Arabian sea. The system will re-emerge and intensify into depression later, and the westward journey of Cyclone Gul-Aab will continue.