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Cyclone Jawad landfall: Trains cancelled and schools shut in Andhra, 46 NDRF teams deployed in 3 states
The deep depression over Bay of Bengal intensified into cyclone Jawad at 11.30am on Friday, and is expected to move northwestwards and reach the coasts of north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha by Saturday morning. It will then change route to make landfall near Odisha’s Puri on Sunday noon.
Authorities in Andhra Pradesh on Friday ordered closure of schools and cancelled a large number of trains in view of Cyclone Jawad that is likely to reach the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in the next few hours.
About 65 trains from Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh scheduled for Friday and Saturday have been cancelled, senior divisional commercial manager of Waltair division of East Coast Railways, AK Tripathi, told news agency ANI.
Besides, the district administrations of Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam have ordered a closure of all schools till Saturday.
Earlier in the day, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into Cyclone Jawad at 11.30am. It is expected to move northwestwards and reach the coasts of north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha by Saturday morning before changing route to make landfall near Odisha’s Puri on Sunday noon.
After the landfall process, the cyclone is expected to reach a maximum sustained wind speed of 80-90kmph gusting to 100kmph. Earlier, the Met department said the cyclone would primarily affect Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gangetic West Bengal.
In its latest bulletin, the IMD has forecasted heavy rainfall alert over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and south coastal Odisha for Friday and heavy to extremely heavy falls over the same areas for Saturday. Meanwhile, a very heavy rainfall alert has been issued over Gangetic Bengal for Saturday.
Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram that are located in north coastal Andhra Pradesh are expected to be affected by the cyclone, while Ganjam, Puri, Gagapati and Jagatsinghpur will be impacted in Odisha.
Due to the heavy rain, IMD DG Mrityunjay Mahapatra said electric and telephone lines could be disrupted in Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has cancelled leaves of state employees and asked them to report to work on Sunday in view of cyclone Jawad. The state government has also cancelled the popular International Sand Art Festival and the Konark Festival, which commenced from December 1.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed as many as 46 of its teams across Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha. “They are prepositioned there. IDS is on alert if the situation arises to airlift any of the teams,” said NDRF director general Atul Karwal, adding that a total of 18 teams are on standby.
(With bureau inputs)
