Cyclone Asani: Heavy Rains Lash Andhra Pradesh

The severe cyclone Asani neared the east coast today, packing gale-force winds of up to 105 kmph, but showed indications of gradual weakening, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The cyclone, which was moving at a speed of 25 kmph on Monday, has slowed down to 5 kmph as it lay centered around 300 km southeast of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and 510 km south-southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha.

The system is expected to recurve on Tuesday night and move parallel to the coast in the north-northeast direction.

"The severe storm has already started losing steam, and it will further weaken into a cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours as it nears the coast and makes the recurve," Bhubaneswar Regional Meteorological Centre Director H R Biswas said, adding that the gale-force wind speed would decline to 80-90 kmph by Tuesday night, and to 60-70 kmph by Wednesday evening.

The coastal city of Visakhapatnam has been receiving heavy spells of rain with gusty winds, throwing normal life out of gear and disrupting vehicular traffic. The cyclone will not make landfall either in Odisha or Andhra Pradesh, but, as mentioned earlier, will move parallel to the east coast and cause heavy rains. Gusty winds with speeds of 40-60 kmph are likely along the coast.

The bad weather also hit the flight operations at the Vizag airport. Flights from Kurnool, Bengaluru and Hyderabad could not land at the airport due to the inclement weather and had to be sent back, and several other flights had to be cancelled.

The Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority has asked people to remain alert in view of the forecast for more heavy rains in coastal Andhra from Tuesday evening.

Odisha too braced for heavy rain in the coastal areas, and rainfall was recorded in Ganjam, Puri and Khurda on Tuesday morning. The Met has also warned fishermen against venturing into the deep sea till Thursday.