As cyclone ‘Tauktae’ battered the western coast and left behind a trail of destruction, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that a low-pressure area is likely to form over the east-central Bay of Bengal and will make landfall around May 23-24.
The cyclone that will be called ‘Yaas’, a name was given by Oman. Warning of a likely formation of low-pressure area over Bay of Bengal next week, once the intensification and cyclogenesis is flagged on the forecast skill range, the cyclone will be mentioned officially in the forecasts, Sunitha Devi, in charge of cyclones at the IMD told the Hindustan Times (HT).
Devi also noted that the sea surface temperature SST) is at 31 degrees above the Bay of Bengal, around 1-2 degrees Celsius above average, making oceanic and atmospheric conditions favourable for cyclone storm development.
IMD officials said they cannot rule out the possibility that Yaas will intensify like Amphan. “We cannot rule out an Amphan-like intensification. The only good thing is that models as of now are showing that the system is moving very fast over the sea. Its intensification will be restricted if its time over sea is less,” Devi said.
Meanhile, officials in Odisha have started making preparations for the cyclone. Odisha Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep K Jena held a preparatory meeting with the collectors of 10 coastal districts along with SPs, fire department officers and emergency officials. He directed district authorities to identify the shelters, check facilities and infrastructure and deploy staff and to prepare an evacuation plan.
Warning that sea conditions are likely to be rough to very rough, the Met Department advised fishermen not to venture into the Bay of Bengal from May 24.
This comes days after at least 45 people have died in Gujarat as cyclone Tauktae pummelled parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction along the coast, uprooting electric poles, trees and damaging thousands of houses and roads. Tauktae, characterised as an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Monday, has now weakened into a “cyclonic storm” and will gradually become a “deep depression” as it moves northwards, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The landfall process of the eye of the extremely severe cyclonic storm Tauktae, which hit the Gujarat coast in the Saurashtra region between Diu and Una, ended around midnight on Monday, the IMD said.
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