Cyclone Arnab will hit Bapatla and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, close to Yanam, as a very severe cyclonic storm tomorrow forenoon. Talking exclusively to Akashvani, Director General of India Meteorological Department (IMD) Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that during landfall activity, the cyclone will have maximum sustained wind upto 125 to 150 kilometres per hour. Dr. Mohapatra has cautioned people of destructive winds, heavy rainfall and coastal flooding. He noted that the cyclone is likely to damage houses, trees, power lines and standing crops. The DG IMD has advised people in vulnerable low-lying areas to evacuate and urged them to remain in safe places till tomorrow afternoon. He said that storm surge of 2.5 meter height above astronomical tide may inundate low-lying coastal areas, particularly around Kakinada during the time of landfall.
Meanwhile, IMD has issued a red colour warning for extremely heavy rainfall over Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh tomorrow. Heavy to very heavy weather is likely to prevail over Telangana and Vidarbha tomorrow. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, East Madhya Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal and Jharkhand will witness heavy rainfall for next two day. The Met Department has forecast thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds over Bihar, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Maharashtra and East Uttar Pradesh for next two to three days. Similar conditions are likely to prevail over Interior Karnataka, Kerala, Mahe and Rayalaseema.
