Bhubaneswar: The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Arnab over westcentral Bay of Bengal is now just 370 km south of Gopalpur, the IMD said in its latest bulletin today.
According to the IMD, the system moved nearly west-northwestwards with a speed of 20 kmph during past 6 hours, and lay centered at 08:30 am today over westcentral Bay of Bengal near latitude 16.0°N and longitude 84.3°E.As of 8:30 am, it is located about 220 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, 240 km east-southeast of Kakinada, 340 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam, 410 km east of Bapatla and 1030 km west-northwest of Sri Vijaya Puram (Andaman Islands).
It is very likely to move west-northwestwards till evening of today. Thereafter, it is very likely to move northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh & Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to Yanam as a very severe cyclonic storm.
At the time of landfall by forenoon of October 28, the maximum sustained wind speed will be 125-135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph, IMD said.
