Cyclone Asani weakens, unlikely to make landfall, but cause heavy rain | Top points

Although not likely to make landfall, authorities have alerted fishermen to not enter deep waters as a cyclonic circulation will still prevail in the Bay of Bengal over the next few days.

Severe cyclonic storm 'Asani' may not make landfall over the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha as it is likely to weaken in the next 48 hours, the Indian Meteorological Department said in its latest forecast on Monday.

NDRF and police personnel at low lying areas of fishermen village, ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Asani, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (PTI via NDRF)

However, fishermen and coastal inhabitants were advised not to venture into the deep sea area over the central parts of the Bay of Bengal on May 9 and 10 and over the northwest region adjoining northern Odisha and West Bengal from May 10 and 12.

Here are the latest developments:

1. Asani, which means ‘wrath’ in Sinhala, is moving towards northwest at a speed of 25km per hour in the Bay of Bengal towards coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
2. Asani is expected to gradually weaken into a cyclonic storm and recurve north-northeastwards and move towards northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast, the weather department said.
3. Light to moderate rainfall may occur from Tuesday evening in many districts across coastal Odisha and heavy rainfall (7 -11cm) at one or two places over Gajapati, Ganjam, and Puri, IMD said.
4. The cyclone was situated about 680km in direction of the south-southeast of Puri and 580km from Visakhapatnam as of noon on Monday.
5. National and state disaster relief departments are on alert even though there is no forecast of the cyclone causing havoc. Distant warning signal 2 (asking ships not to come near the coast) has been hoisted in all ports in Odisha in view of the approaching severe cyclone.