Bhubaneswar: The very severe cyclonic storm ‘Arnab’ over Westcentral Bay of Bengal moved nearly west-northwestwards with a speed of 20 kmph during the past six hours and lay centered at 11:30 am today, near latitude 16.2°N and longitude 83.7°E, about 170 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam, 180 km east-southeast of Kakinada, 270 km east of Machilipatnam, 350 km east of Bapatla and 370 km south-southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha.
It is very likely to move west-northwestwards till evening of October 27. Thereafter, it is likely to move northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to Yanam, as a very severe cyclonic storm with maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph by forenoon of October 28. The system is under continuous surveillance of the Doppler Weather Radar at Vishakhapatnam.
The IMD has issued a red warning for Odisha. On October 27, heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places is very likely over Gajapati and Ganjam districts. Thunderstorm with lightning and gusty surface wind reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph is also likely over these districts.
On October 28, red warning has been issued for Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts where heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two places is very likely.
Thunderstorm with lightning and gusty wind speed reaching 60-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph is very likely over Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Koraput and Malkangiri.
