The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) informed that a depression in the west-central Bay of Bengal intensified into a deep depression on Friday morning, 3 December, and later intensified into a cyclonic storm named Jawad.
After Cyclone Yaas in May and Cyclone Gulab in September, this will be the third cyclone headed towards India’s east coast this year.
The cyclone is expected to edge past the coasts of north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha by Saturday morning. It is likely to recurve and move along Odisha coast reaching near Puri by 5 December noon. After which, it’s likely to move towards the West Bengal coast, as per the IMD.
"At 1730 IST of 3rd Dec the CYCLONIC STORM 'JAWAD' centered about 300 km south southeast of Vishakhapatnam and 480 km south southwest of Puri. To move north northwestwards till 4th Dec Morning and then recurve north northeastwards reaching near Puri coast around 5th December noon," the weather agency said in a tweet.
Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre Director Sunanda told news agency ANI that the cyclone will cross from between Gopalpur and Puri in Odisha.
Further, isolated and extremely heavy rainfall is expected over Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
Meanwhile, an orange alert has been issued in Andhra and Odisha, as heavy to very heavy rainfall has been predicted by the weather department for Friday.
Preparations Underway
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General Atul Karwal told ANI, a total of 46 NDRF teams have been sent to Odisha, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh to tackle the storm.
He added that the integrated defence staff is on alert if the situation arises to airlift any of the teams. Further, 18 more teams are on standby.
"We are a total of three teams that are deployed here. Two other teams are kept as reserves. We shall respond to any untoward situation to rescue people and do our best to avoid any mishap or loss," NDRF Sub-inspector Satyanarayan was quoted as saying.
"We are all set and alert 24x7 for any eventuality. Main concerns are landslides and uprooting of trees. We have to clear roads quickly to avoid any traffic problem. We have multitalented personnel who can respond to any situation," said NDRF Head Constable Rama Rao, as per ANI.
Fear of Cyclone Leads Farmers To Begin Early Sale of Paddy
With the cyclonic storm predicted to hit Odisha, farmers across the state have begun an early harvest and a distress sale of paddy.
“First Yaas, then unseasonal rains in the pre-harvest season and now another cyclonic storm, we have hardly had time to recover from each setback… Paddy is yet to ripen completely but we are forced to harvest it early,” Debendra Rout, a resident of Churmura village in Jaleswar block of Balasore district, told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Odisha Tourism has called off the Konark Festival and International Sand Art Festival, which was scheduled to be held in Konark.
Later, ANI reported that UGC-NET December 2020 and June 2021 examinations, previously scheduled to be held on 5 December, have been rescheduled in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha due to the cyclone alert.
The MBA (IB) 2022-24 entrance exam for Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, has also been postponed in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Cuttack, Kolkata, and Durgapur, as per ANI.
(With inputs from ANI and The Indian Express.)
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