Bhubaneswar: A deep depression over the east-central Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm and cross the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of October 28, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.
The system is expected to intensify into a cyclonic storm by the early hours of October 26 and further strengthen into a severe cyclonic storm by the morning of October 27 as it moves across the Bay of Bengal towards the Andhra Pradesh coast.
According to the IMD, the depression over the east-central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal moved southwestwards at a speed of 5 kmph during the past six hours and intensified into a deep depression. It lay centred over the same region at 11.30 am on Sunday, about 420 km north-northwest of Sri Vijaya Puram in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The system was located approximately 870 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam, 960 km east-southeast of Kakinada, 1,060 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam and 1,130 km east of Bapatla in Andhra Pradesh, the weather agency said.
The deep depression is very likely to move nearly southwestwards initially and intensify further into a cyclonic storm over the east-central and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal by the early hours of Monday.
Thereafter, it is expected to move west-northwestwards over the east-central and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal, strengthening into a severe cyclonic storm by the morning of October 27.
The system is then likely to change course towards the northwest, intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm and reach the west-central Bay of Bengal near the Andhra Pradesh coast by the morning of October 28.
The IMD said the system is very likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of October 28, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 115-125 kmph and gusts reaching up to 140 kmph.
The projected track and intensification indicate the likelihood of a powerful cyclonic storm approaching the Andhra Pradesh coast later this week.
