As Cyclone Asani weakens, Odisha, Andhra, Bengal brace for heavy rains

New Delhi, May 12: Several parts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have braced up for heavy rain as the severe Cyclone Asani weakened to a cyclonic storm on Wednesday.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the weather system is likely to further lose steam and turn into a depression by Thursday morning.

"It is very likely to move nearly northwards for next few hour and recurve slowly north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts during noon to evening on Wednesday, and emerge into west central Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by night," the IMD said in its bulletin.

The Andhra Pradesh government has sounded a high alert in all coastal districts. In Odisha, a high alert has been sounded in the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Ganjam and Gajapati.

"It is moving along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts and is likely to weaken into a deep depression by Wednesday night and further into a depression by Thursday morning," a bulletin from the Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC)in Visakhapatnam said.

The CWC also warned of heavy rains in isolated places in Krishna, East Godavari, Yanam, West Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts. The bulletin said that heavy to very heavy rains are likely to occur in a few places over Guntur, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Prakasam districts. Heavy rainfall is likely to occur in some places in Nellore and Kadapa districts in the next 24 hours, the bulletin also said.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has earmarked 50 teams to undertake rescue and relief operations in areas affected by Asani. 22 have been deployed on the ground in West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh while the rest of the 28 teams have been asked to stay n alert within these states, an NDRF spokesperson said.

The weather office in Kolkata said that heavy rainfall is likely at one or two places over Purba and Paschim Medinipur, North and South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts of Gangetic West Bengal till Thursday morning.