Asani changes course, red warning for Andhra coast

GBNews24 Desk//

Severe Cyclone Asani has significantly changed its track and is likely to touch the Andhra Pradesh coast between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam, India Meteorological Department or IMD has said.

It issued a red warning for the state’s coast, asking local authorities to take action to prevent disasters associated with the cyclone, the Hindustan Times reported.

Asani, which means wrath in Sinhala, is likely to move northwestwards and reach west central Bay of Bengal close to Kakinada-Vishakhapatnam coasts by Wednesday morning.

The cyclone is likely to recurve slowly north-northeastwards and move along Andhra Pradesh coast between Kakinada and Vishakhapatnam and then emerge into northwest Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts.

Asani is likely to weaken gradually into a cyclone by Wednesday morning and into a depression by May 12 morning. But before it gets weak, it is forecast to cause intense rainfall and extremely strong winds along Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts.

On Tuesday afternoon Asani lay centered around 210km south-southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 310km south-southwest of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 530km southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 630km southwest of Puri (Odisha).

The model predictions were looping indicating high uncertainty about the track of Asani, scientists said.

“As you can see track has changed now. Asani will touch and move along the Andhra Pradesh coast between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam. We are now expecting Asani to touch the coast on Wednesday early morning. The impact may not be very severe but still, people need to be prepared,” said Ananda Kumar Das, in charge of the weather bureau’s cyclone monitoring division.