Watch: Sea turns turbulent in AP's Kakinada as Cyclone Asani nears; Uppada beach road closed

Kakinada, May 11: The sea in Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada has turned turbulent with Cyclone Asani nearing the coast. Severe cyclone Asani neared the east coast, packing gale-force winds up to 105 kmph, amid indication of gradual weakening on Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The cyclone, which was moving at 5 kmph in the morning, gained speed to 25 kmph later in the day, as it lay centred around 210 km south-southeast of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and 530 km south-southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha, according to the latest bulletin issued at 4.30 PM.

The system is expected to recurve on Tuesday evening and move parallel to the coast in the north-northeast direction.

#WATCH | Andhra Pradesh: Sea turns turbulent in Kakinada, strong winds blow due to #CycloneAsani

IMD says that the cyclone is very likely to move nearly northwestwards for the next few hours & reach Westcentral Bay of Bengal close to the Andhra Pradesh coast. pic.twitter.com/7p60yIxxH0

— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2022

Earlier on Tuesday, Odisha Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said that cyclone Asani is likely to reach Kakinada on the Andhra coast on Wednesday morning.

"The cyclonic storm Asani is moving from West Central Bay of Bengal towards North Andhra coast and as per estimation, the cyclone is likely to reach Kakinada of Andhra coast tomorrow morning," Jena had told ANI.

The officials had said that cyclone Asani has changed its direction and is going to touch the nearby Kakinada coast. After touching the Kakinada coast, it will come again to sea between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam.

"Heavy to very heavy rainfall warnings have been issued along with the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Telangana's Nalgonda, Suryapet, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam and Mulugu districts are likely to receive light to moderate rainfall," Dr Nagaratna, Head, Meteorological Centre, Hyderabad, had told ANI.

Meanwhile, Traffic movement on the Kakinada-Uppada beach road in Andhra Pradesh has been suspended in view of Cyclone Asani.

"Pitch road is damaged, we put up two check-posts in our limits to control vehicular movement. Roads are getting damaged. We're stopping everybody from taking this route," police said.