Summary:
"Titli moved with a speed of about 10 kmph and intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and lay centred over west-central Bay of Bengal, about 370 km south-southeast of Gopalpur in Odisha," the IMD said in a bulletin.It is very likely to intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 18 hours. BHUBANESWAR: Cyclone 'Titli' over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a severe cyclonic storm on Wednesday and is moving towards the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast, triggering rainfall in several parts of Odisha , the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.The cyclonic storm is likely to make a landfall between Gopalpur in Odisha and Kalingapatanam in Andhra Pradesh early Thursday morning at a wind speed of 145 kmph, it said. The storm is likely to move north-northwestwards and cross Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh coast between Gopalpur and Kalingapatnam around Thursday morning, it said.Thereafter, it is likely to re-curve northeastward, move towards Gangetic West Bengal across Odisha and weaken gradually, said Director of the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar, H R Biswas told PTI.While some areas in coastal Odisha recorded rainfall Wednesday, the IMD has forecast "heavy to very heavy rainfall" at several places and "extremely heavy rainfall" at isolated areas till Thursday under the impact of the severe cyclonic storm.The districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore are expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall till Thursday, the IMD said.It also forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall for Kandhamal, Boudh and Dhenkanal district from Thursday.The IMD said rainfall would be accompanied by gale wind speed reaching 60-70 kmph and gusting to 80 kmph along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts..