Heavy rains lash parts of Odisha as cyclone Arnab hurtles towards east coast

BHUBANESWAR: Heavy rains, accompanied by strong winds, lashed parts of Odisha on Tuesday as very severe cyclonic storm Arnab moved towards the east coast, with landfall expected along the Andhra Pradesh shore within the next 24 hours, the IMD said.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange warning, forecasting heavy to very heavy rainfall of 12-20 cm, for six districts -- Puri, Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri.

The districts under the yellow warning, indicating rainfall of 7-11 cm, are Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Khurda, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Nuapada, Balangir and Boudh.

In its latest bulletin, the IMD said the very severe cyclonic storm Arnab moved at 22 kmph over the previous six hours and was centred at 5.30 am over the Bay of Bengal about 260 km southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The storm is likely to move west-northwestwards until the evening of October 27, before turning northwestwards and crossing the Andhra Pradesh coast between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to Yanam, by the forenoon of October 28.

The system is expected to make landfall with maximum sustained wind speeds of 115-125 kmph and gusts of up to 140 kmph, the IMD said.

Odisha Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said the state was prepared to deal with the situation, with personnel and equipment deployed at vulnerable locations.

People living in low-lying areas were being moved to safer places, he added.