IMD forecast heavy rain in coastal districts of Odisha, Bengal over next 48 hours

Bhubaneswar/Kolkata: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday forecast heavy rainfall in several coastal districts of Odisha and West Bengal over the next 48 hours as the low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression.

Tuesday’s low-pressure area over southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining Andaman and Nicobar Islands moved west-northwestwards, concentrated into a depression and lay centred over westcentral Bay of Bengal, about 510 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 650 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 790 km south of Digha (West Bengal) at 8.30 am, the IMD said in a bulletin.

The depression over westcentral Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a deep depression and reach north Odisha-West Bengal coasts on November 18.

IMD DG Mrunjay Mohapatra said the system is likely to initially move northwestwards, then north-northwestwards and intensify into a deep depression over westcentral Bay of Bengal off Andhra Pradesh coast on Thursday morning.

"Thereafter, it would re-curve north-northeastwards and reach over northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast on November 17 morning and off north Odisha-West Bengal coasts on November 18 morning," he said.

The system will bring light to moderate rain in the coastal districts of West Bengal on November 15 and will increase intensity gradually, causing heavy rain on November 16 and very heavy rain on November 17 in these areas, the Met department said.

It also advised fishermen not to venture into the sea along and off West Bengal coasts from November 16 to 18.

Meanwhile, cloudy sky prevailed in most of the coastal regions in Odisha while some parts of southern districts received light rains.

The IMD issued a heavy rainfall warning (7 to 11cm) at one or two places over the districts of Puri, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Balasore of Odisha on November 16.

Orange warning (Be Prepared) of heavy to very heavy rainfall (7 to 20cm) is very likely to occur at one or two places over Balasore and Bhadrak districts on November 17, the IMD said.

The system will also bring isolated heavy rainfall in Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur from November 16 to 18 and over south Assam and Meghalaya on November 17.

Keeping the IMD forecast in view, Odisha’s Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) has requested fishermen not to venture into the sea from November 15 to November 18 as it will remain rough to very rough with a wind speed between 40 kmph and 70 kmph.

The state’s agriculture department has issued an advisory for farmers, suggesting that they harvest matured paddy and other crops. The department also urged vegetable growers to take precautions to protect their standing crops.