Cyclone Asani intensifies as it moves towards India’s east cost
New Delhi, May 9 (EFE).- Indian authorities warned on Tuesday that cyclone Asani had intensified into a “severe” category storm ahead of its expected landfall on India’s eastern coast on Tuesday.
“The severe cyclonic storm Asani moved northwestwards with a speed of 25kmph during past six hours,” the India Meteorological Department said in its latest bulletin.
The cyclone, carrying winds of 48-63 kmph, is currently situated in southern Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall on Tuesday along the coasts of the state of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, before “weakening gradually into a cyclonic storm over the next 48 hours.”
Both the states have began to prepare for the storm’s arrival.
Odisha’s special commissioner in-charge of relief operations, Pradeep Jena, said that authorities had called back more than 6,000 fishing boats from the sea to seek shelter.
“As per latest information from the fishing department, all fishing boats from sea as well as Chilika lake have returned to their bases. No boat is there in sea. All berthed,” Jena tweeted.
He also said that the state was ready to evacuate 750,000 people from the coastal districts in case of emergency.
Cyclones are a common occurrence along India’s eastern coast, and in December the cyclonic storm Jawad had led to authorities evacuating thousands of people in the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
In 2020, super cyclone Amphan had killed more than 100 people in India and Bangladesh in one of the worst incidents of its kind in recent years. EFE
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