By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 23, 2021: The Meteorological Centre here has issued Red Warning to eight coastal districts of the State for May 26 with the cyclone Yaas getting closer to Odisha coast.

A special weather bulletin released by the MeT said, heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at a few places over the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar on May 26.

The Depression over east-central Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 5 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centred at 1730 hrs IST of today, the 23rd May, 2021 near latitude 16.2°N and longitude 89.9°E, about 590 km north-northwest of Port Blair (Andaman Islands), 570 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 670 km south-southeast of Balasore (Odisha) and 650 km south-southeast of Digha (West Bengal), the MeT said.

Keeping a tab on its projected path, the MeT Centre said, “It is very likely to move slowly north-northwestwards and intensify into a Cyclonic Storm by the morning of May 24 and further intensify into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm during the subsequent 24 hours. It would continue to move north-northwestwards, intensify further and reach Northwest Bay of Bengal near north Odisha and West Bengal coasts by the morning of May 26.”

“It is very likely to cross north Odisha – West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar Islands by the evening of May 26 as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm,” the bulletin said.