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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Cyclone 'Hud Hud' heading towards Odisha-Andhra coast, confirms Met

Zee Media Bureau/Ajith Vijay Kumar

Bhubaneswar: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Wednesday, confirmed the formation of Cyclonic storm 'Hud Hud' over north Andaman Sea and said that it will make landfall between Gopalpur in Odisha and Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on October 12.

“The deep depression over north Andaman Sea & neighbourhood moved west-northwestward, intensified into a Cyclonic Storm ‘HUD HUD’ and lay centered at 08:30 am IST on October 08 over north Andaman Sea near latitude12.3ºN and longitude 92.9ºE, close to Long Island,” the IMD said.

“It is now crossing Andaman & Nicobar Islands close to Long Island. Thereafter, the system would continue to move west-northwestwards, intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm during next 24 hours and subsequently into a very severe cyclonic storm during subsequent 36 hours. The system would cross north coastal Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coast between Visakhapatnam and Goplapur around noon of October 12,” the IMD bulletin said.

The cyclone has been named after Hudhud, an Afro-Eurasian which is the national bird of Israel, and is an official entry to the list of cyclone names contributed by Oman.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, yesterday, said the state government is fully prepared for the possible eventuality.

The state govenrment has cancelled leaves of its employees and put 16 coastal districts on alert. Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service personnel are also preparing for the emerging situation.

The government also asked district authorities to open round-the-clock control room to coordinate with different departments.

The districts which have been alerted are Balasore, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurdha, Nayagarh, Gajapati, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Malkangiri and Koraput districts, Deputy Relief Commissioner Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra said.

The Met Centre in Bhubnaeswar has advised fishermen who have ventured into deep sea to return to coast immediately.