Cyclone ‘Mahasen’ weakens, rains likely

The cyclonic storm 'Mahasen' created over southeast Bay of Bengal has weakened and moved slightly towards the northwest, the local Met office said on Sunday.

Latest satellite imagery shows disorganisation of cloud mass and weakening of the system, said S K Dastidar, the director in-charge of the local IMD was quoted as saying in its bulletin. The system lay centered at 8:30 am near about 1,140 km south of Paradip.

It would move initially northwestwards during the next 36 hours and recurve thereafter northeastwards towards the Bangladesh-Myanmar coast, according to the bulletin. Under its impact, rain or thundershower is expected occur at a few places over Odisha during the next 24 hours, while Distant Warning Signal Number-Two (DW-II) was kept hoisted at Paradip and Gopalpur ports in the state, it said.

On the impact of the cyclonic storm, the bulletin mentions that surface wind speed reaching 35-40 kmph gusting to 50 kmph from southwesterly direction would prevail along and off Odisha coast. Fishermen should be cautious while venturing into the sea, Dastidar said. 

-Bhubaneswar, PTI