Bhubaneswar: Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘FANI’ over westcentral Bay of Bengal is likely to hit landmass between Gopalpur and Chandbali in Odisha Friday afternoon and will bring torrential rainfall with it, said the 8:30am bulletin of India Meterological Department (IMD) Thursday.
Under influence of this storm, light to moderate rainfall will be experienced at most places in the state with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over south coastal and adjoining interior Odisha Thursday.
Rainfall is likely to increase with moderate rainfall at most places and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy falls (>20 cm) at isolated places over coastal Odisha and adjoining districts of interior Odisha Friday.
Light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places over Balasore, Mayurbhanj districts of north Odisha is likely Saturday.
The cyclone has moved north-northeastwards with a speed of about 15 kmph in last six hours and currently lays centred about 450 km south-southwest of Puri, 230 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 650 km south-southwest of Digha in West Bengal.
It is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during Friday afternoon with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph.
The cyclone is being tracked by ‘Doppler Weather Radars’ based in Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and Machilipatnam, said IMD.