Strong winds, rains expected in three states as cyclone Asani intensifies

New Delhi : Cyclone Asani has intensified on Sunday evening over Southeast Bay of Bengal, creating possibility of strong winds and rains. According to IMD, it is likely to move northwestwards till May 10 and reach Westcentral and adjoining Northwest Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast.

Asani is likely to miss the Andhra coast by around 100 kms, leaving the region with light to moderate rainfall, said IMD. Several regions near coastal Odisha will receive light rainfall and strong winds till May 11.

However, isolated areas may get heavy rainfall on Thursday.

Earlier, a bulletin issued by the weather department said, "The cyclonic storm ‘Asani’ over Southeast Bay of Bengal moved nearly northwestwards with a speed of 14 kmph during the past 6 hours, intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and lay centered at 1730 hours IST of today, the 08th May, over Southeast and adjoining East Central Bay of Bengal, near latitude 12.2°N and longitude 88.2°E, about 610 km northwest of Car Nicobar (Nicobar Islands), 500 km west of Port Blair (Andaman Islands), 810 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 880 km south-southeast of Puri (Odisha)."

Meanwhile, Odisha government has already started preparations if anything undesirable happens related to cyclone Asani.