276 pregnant women in Odisha moved to hospital as Cyclone Jawad nears

189 pregnant women were shifted to various hospitals of Ganjam district and 17 of them delivered safely. Another 73 were taken to government hospitals of Kendrapara and 14 to hospitals in the Puri district

Odisha shifted 276 pregnant women to nearest hospitals during evacuation of people from low lying areas even as the India Meteorological Department on Saturday said cyclone Jawad may weaken to deep depression before reaching Puri coast by Sunday noon.

IMD scientist in Bhubaneswar, Uma Shankar Das said the cyclone is weakening due to sharp east-west gradient in tropical cyclone heat potential. (PTI Photo)

the cyclone has weakened and will reach Odisha as deep depression. “Little good news. The cyclone may weaken into a deep depression by the time it reaches Puri coast, as seen from IMD’s latest bulletin,” Pradeep Jena, the special relief commissioner said as the cyclone over west central Bay of Bengal moved slightly northwards with a speed of 4 kmph during the past six hours and at 5:30 am on Saturday, was centered about 230 km southeast of Vishakhapatnam, 410 km south-southwest of Puri and 490 km south-southwest of Paradip.

189 pregnant women were shifted to various hospitals of Ganjam district and 17 of them delivered safely. Another 73 were taken to government hospitals of Kendrapara and 14 to hospitals in the Puri district.

IMD scientist in Bhubaneswar, Uma Shankar Das said the cyclone is weakening due to sharp east-west gradient in tropical cyclone heat potential. “As the system reaches North Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts, reduced value of TCHP value will not help in further intensification of the system. After reaching north Andhra Pradesh–south Odisha coasts by the morning of December 4, it is likely to recurve north-northeastwards and move along Odisha coast reaching near Puri around the noon of December 5. Subsequently, it is likely to continue to move north-northeastwards along coastal Odisha towards the West Bengal coast,” he said.

In view of the cyclone, East Coast Railway cancelled more trains. While 36 trains are cancelled on December 4, 38 trains will remain cancelled on December 5. The railway authority has cancelled one train for December 6 and diverted another in view of the cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal.

Odisha government on Friday announced the closing down of schools in 19 districts on Saturday in view of Jawad.