Odisha asks fishermen not to venture into sea as cyclone looms over Bay of Bengal

The Odisha government on Sunday advised all the fishermen in coastal districts not to venture into the sea till Saturday, as an upper air cyclonic circulation over North Andaman Sea is likely to turn into a cyclonic storm and pass through Odisha and West Bengal coast by Thursday.
After attending a review meeting in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, Odisha special relief commissioner Deoranjan Kumar Singh said the upper air cyclonic circulation over North Andaman Sea is likely to turn into a depression over Bay of Bengal in next 12 hours.
“There is a possibility of it turning into a cyclonic storm by October 23 over East-central Bay of Bengal. Thereafter, it is very likely to move northwestwards and reach northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha-West Bengal coasts by 24th October morning. Though it would be too early to say whether it would become a cyclone we are asking all fishermen not to venture into the sea till Saturday. Those fishermen who have ventured into the sea should come back quickly,” he said.
Singh said under the influence of the system, very heavy rainfall is likely to begin in the coastal districts of Puri, Ganjam and Jagatsinghpur from October 23. A day later, the districts of Kendrapara, Cuttack, Nayagarh, Balasore, Kandhamal and Khurda are likely to receive heavy rain.
“Though it is difficult to say whether the system would turn into a cyclone, we are keeping a close watch on it and have asked the district collectors to keep the cyclone shelters ready. The fire services and ODRAF forces have been asked to be in readiness,” he said.
The director of the India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s Bhubaneswar centre, Manorama Mohanty said there is no possibility of the impending cyclonic storm to intensify into a super cyclonic storm or extremely super cyclonic storm. “The cyclonic storm may intensify into a severe cyclonic storm. The wind speed may reach up to 100-120 kmph,” Mohanty said.
While IMD has forecasted that a cyclonic storm (to be named as Cyclone ‘Dana’) is likely to head towards Odisha-West Bengal coast, two major weather models, IMD-GFS and ECMWF, have indicated that the system may make landfall in Puri. On the other hand, NCUM (G) model has indicated that the forecasted cyclone may cross near Bhubaneswar.
In the last 11 years, there have been at least 3 cyclones that wreaked havoc on Odisha coast beginning with Phailin in 2013, Hudhud in 2014 and Titli in 2018, all in the months of October. Earlier, a super cyclone, which hit the state on October 29, 1999 , had killed 10,000 people and affected 1.3 crore people in 12 district with the district of Jagatsinghpur becoming the maximum hit. Over 10,000 people died in the state when a cyclone hit Jagatsinghpur on October 29, in 1971. Cyclone Fani, was the first summertime storm to devastate the coast in May 2019.