Threat averted as Cyclone Warda spares Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The cyclonic storm, which was formed over the southwest of Bay of Bengal in the early morning hours today will have least impact on Odisha, the local Met office said here today.

“The depression formed over south-south-east Bay of Bengal and centred at 310 km to the southwest of Port Blair yesterday had intensified into a deep depression at midnight last night and turned into a cyclonic storm named Warda at 5.30 AM today and lay centred over the southwest of Bay of Bengal, about 240 km off the Port Blair coast. It is expected that the cyclonic storm would move towards north for some time and then move towards north-west direction and head towards Andhra Pradesh coast. The cyclonic storm will have least impact on Odisha as it will cross the southern coast of Andhra Pradesh,” Mrutyunjaya Mohapatra, head of the Cyclone Warning Centre, IMD, told OTV over phone.

Mohapatra said the Cyclonic Warda, which is now 1150 away from the Machhlipatnam coast of Andhra Pradesh, is expected to cross the coast as it will move towards north-west direction. Under its influence, heavy rainfall is predicted in Machhlipatnam and its nearby areas in the next 48 hours.