Cyclone Phailin is 150 km away from Gopalpur, moving at 15kmph

Bhubaneswar, Oct 12: The very severe cyclonic storm,

, has come closer to the

coast and is centered around 150 km southeast of Gopalpur and 260 km southeast of Paradip, the MeT office said.

"It would move northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts between Kalingapatnam and Paradip, close to Gopalpur (Odisha) by the evening of today," the MeT office bulletin said.

With Phailin gradually coming closer to the state's coast, sources in special relief commissioner's (SRC) office said water level along the coast was swelling. Ahead of the landfall of Phailin, the entire state is experiencing heavy downpour and wind speed ranging around 80 kmph.

Heavy to very heavy rain has been reported from the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Bhadrak and Kendrapara in coastal region.

"Squally wind speeds reaching 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph would prevail along and off Odisha coast during the next six hours.

It would increase in intensity with gale speed reaching 210-220 kmph gusting to 240 kmph along and off the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Bhadrak and Kendrapara of coastal Odisha at the time of landfall," the IMD bulletin said.

The state of sea along and off Odisha coast will be high and will become gradually phenomenal.

Storm surge with a height of 3 to 3.5 meters above astronomical tide would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha during landfall, it said.

The state of sea along and off Odisha coast will be high.

While suggesting the state government to suspend fishing operations, the IMD favoured total suspension of rail and road traffic in vulnerable areas.

The IMD warning said even after landfall, the system is likely to maintain the intensity of a very severe cyclonic storm for six hours and gradually weaken into a cyclonic storm in subsequent six hours while moving northwestwards across interior Odisha.

PTI