Cyclone predicted to hit orissa

[kakatiya]

Bhubaneswar: With Odisha battling COVID-19 and grim memories of Cyclone Fani still fresh in our minds, news of a cyclonic formation brewing in the Bay of Bengal created a heightened panic amid corona scare.

A model developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and US-based Global Forecast System (GFS) predicted that the low pressure will be formed on April 30 in the Bay of Bengal South-East of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

It will intensify into a depression and then into a cyclonic storm and move towards Bangladesh and Myanmar before making landfall around May 4-5. Even though the prediction clearly does not include Odisha, Jajpur and Bhadrak districts might experience heavy rainfall with surface winds around May 2. Additionally, coastal district and other adjoining districts will witness moderate rainfall.

The Indian Meteorological Department or its regional centre in Bhubaneswar are yet to release a bulletin on this upcoming ‘cyclone’. However, a trough line discontinuity at 0.9 km above mean sea level has caused thunderstorm with light to moderate rainfall accompanied by gusty surface winds which set to affect coastal districts, southern districts and a few northern districts.

Severe cyclonic storm Fani, which had made a landfall on May 3 last year, had been difficult to predict from the word go. From its formation on April 21 to intensifying into a ‘cyclone’ on April 27. It became a 'severe cyclonic storm' on April 29 and into a 'very severe cyclone' on April 30. A day later, it took the form of an 'extremely severe cyclone' and slammed into the Odisha coast on May 3 with a speed gusting to 175 kilometres per hour. Occasional gusts reached around 200-250 kmph. According to the Saffir-Simpson scale of categorising hurricanes with respect to their wind speeds, cyclone Fani is a category four hurricane.

In the wake of COVID-19 crisis, the State machinery is diverted at containment of the virus, making sure patients get the best treatment, tracing possibly infected people, providing food and shelter to need in addition to the availability of essential commodities. A cyclone scare might have wrecked denizen’s morale, nonetheless, the report is solace in such testing times.