Odisha: Cyclone Jawad likely to weaken ahead of landfall at Puri

With the cyclonic storm, Jawad expected to make landfall on Sunday, the India Meteorological Department today forecast that it may weaken into a deep depression by the time it reaches the coast of Odisha's Puri district.

"It's likely to weaken gradually and move nearly northwards during next 12 hours and then north-northeastwards along Odisha coast reaching near Puri around 5th Dec noon as a Deep Depression. It's likely to weaken further and move north-northeastwards towards the West Bengal coast," said IMD.

The weather department said that Jawad currently lays centered over the west-central Bay of Bengal about 230 km southeast of Vishakhapatnam, 340 km south of Gopalpur, 410 km south-southwest of Puri and 490 km south-southwest of Paradip.

"It has been raining continuously since night and it is increasing now. We are just worried if our homes get destroyed where will we live? Since December 2 all fishermen have been sitting at home. We already live in shanties and if the situation worsens we will have to take shelter in nearby hospitals and schools," said a fisherman living in Puri.

"We (Fishermen) were warned three days ago about the possibility of a cyclone, so we came back to the coast. No one from authority has come here and told us to move to a safe place," said another fisherman.

Meanwhile, 11 teams of the National Disaster Response Force, five teams of State Disaster Response Force, six Coast Guard teams and ten Marine Police teams have been deployed in three districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The administration has also evacuated around 54,008 people from low lying areas from Vishakapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Earlier on Friday, NDRF informed that 46 teams have been deployed in Odisha, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh in view of cyclonic storm.

The IMD as also predicted light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall and extremely heavy falls at isolated places very likely over south coastal Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh and heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over north coastal Odisha and adjoining interior districts and also over coastal districts of Gangetic West Bengal.

However, by tomorrow, as per IMD predictions, heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places is likely over Gangetic West Bengal ad north Odisha. Also, heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places over Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways has cancelled around 36 trains scheduled today to ensure the safety of passengers.

Around 38 trains scheduled to depart on December 5 and one of December 6 have also been cancelled as mark of precautionary measure.

New Tinsukia-Bangalore Express (22502) from New Tinsukia on December 3 will run on a diverted route via Kharagpur-Jharsuguda-Ballaharsa instead of the Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam route.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into west central and northwest Bay of Bengal and along and off north Andhra Pradesh-Odisha-West Bengal coasts during December 4 and 5.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also chaired a meeting on Thursday on the cyclone-related situation in the country.

On Wednesday, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba in the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting also reviewed the preparedness of Central ministries agencies and state governments to deal with the cyclone situation in the Bay of Bengal.

(ANI)