Bhubaneswar: Tropical cyclone ‘Titli’ has now turned into a severe cyclonic storm and is very likely to make landfall between Gopalpur coast in Odisha and Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh by 5.30 am tomorrow morning, a bulletin by Indian Meteorological Department said.
“The latest satellite observations indicate that the very severe cyclonic storm over west central Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a speed of about 6 hours and lay centred over westcentral Bay of Bengal near latitude 17.2 degree north and longitude 85.5 degree east, about 203 km south-southeast of Gopalpur in Odisha and 190 km southeast of Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, ” the bulletin said.
Bhubaneswar Regional Meteorological Centre Director HR Biswas said, "Very severe cyclonic storm Titli is likely to intensify further in next 12 hours. Wind speed of the storm during the landfall will be around 140 to 150 km per hour and gusting up to 165 km per pour in south coastal Odisha. Similarly, in north coastal Odisha, wind speed will be around 70 to 80 km per hour and gusting up to 90 km per hour. The stormy winds will continue to lash from today midnight till tomorrow afternoon, Biswas said.
'Thereafter, it is very likely to re-curve northeastwards, move towards Gangetic West Bengal across Odisha and weaken gradually,' he said.
The weatherman further said that storm surge has been warned for three districts- Ganjam, Puri and Khurda.
"The districts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Nayagarh & Puri are expected to be most affected with chances of major damage to thatched houses, crops & large avenue trees, power & communication lines is possible. Danger signal number - 4 has been hoisted at all ports. Fishermen advised not to venture into sea in view of storm surge till Oct 12," Biswas said.
The state government has announced closure of schools, colleges and Anganwadi centres in Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts from today.
“Six teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been sent to Gajapati, Puri, Kendrapara, Nayagarh, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts and seven Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) units have been deployed in Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda, Cuttack, Mayurbhanj, Balasore and Kalahandi districts,” informed Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi.
Besides, the SRC has asked the Collectors of affected districts to ensure that 836 numbers of multi-purpose shelters are kept ready to accommodate maximum people and directed the officials to evacuate people in the risk zones if the situation demands.
Also Read: Bhubaneswar airport braces up for cyclone Titli
Meanwhile, the IMD has issued red alert and predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall at few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall over Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts in the next 24 hours.
Besides, orange warning and heavy to very heavy rainfall alert has been issued at isolated places in Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Bhadrak and Balasore districts till the morning of October 11.