Cyclone Hudhud to take 'very severe' turn in next 12 hours, IMD warns

NEW DELHI: Cyclonic storm Hudhud will take a "very severe" turn in the next 12 hours, bringing with itself very heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it inches closer to the coast, the Met department has said.

In the evening, Hudhud was 675km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam and 685km southeast of Gopalpur, moving closer to the coast.

"The system would continue to move west-northwestwards and intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours. It would cross north Andhra Pradesh coast around Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of 12th (Oct)," the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a bulletin.

READ ALSO: Cyclone Hudhud: Andhra Pradesh's coastal districts on high alert

The cyclone had been on Wednesday positioned at about 1100km southeast of Gopalpur and 1150km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam at around 11.30am.

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands were, meanwhile, put off a state of alert as "no adverse weather" is expected due to this system over the territory.

READ ALSO: Cyclone Hudhud to cross Andhra on October 12, heavy rain on Saturday

The Met office has issued a heavy rainfall warning for the north Andhra Pradesh coast and south Odisha.

"Under the influence of the system, rainfall at most places, with heavy (6.5 - 12.4cm) to very heavy falls (12.5 - 24.4cm) at a few places, and isolated extremely heavy falls (more than 24.5cm), would occur over south Odisha from the evening of Oct 11 onwards.

"Rainfall would occur at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places (likely) over Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of north coastal Andhra," the bulletin said.

According to the Met department, squally winds reaching speeds of 50-60 kmph gusting to 70 kmph would commence along and off the north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts from the morning of Oct 11. Windspeeds would increase to 130-140 kmph gusting to 150 kmph from Oct 12.

"Sea condition would be rough to very rough from the morning of Oct 11. It would gradually become phenomenal from 12th morning onwards," the Met department said.

It also warned that, under the influence of the system, there was a threat of "extensive damage to kutcha houses, partial disruption of power and communication lines, minor disruption of rail and road traffic".

The bulletin also cautioned against "flying debris and the flooding of escape routes".

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