Cyclone Pabuk alert in 7 districts of Odisha, storm likely to hit Andamans tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: Cyclone activities were witnessed in the South China Sea after which seven districts of Odisha are put on alert by the state government and the Revenue and Disaster management department on Thursday. The cyclone is named 'Pabuk' and was earlier centred around 1,500 km east-southeast of Port Blair, over the South China Sea. The forecast is that the cyclone will hit in the Andaman sea on January 5 and is expected to cross the islands on January 6. "It is very likely to move northwestwards and cross Andaman islands around evening/ night of 06th January. Thereafter, it is very likely to move north-northwestwards and then recurve northeastwards towards Myanmar coast and weaken further during 7th -8th January 2019," the advisory issued by the authorities read. The Meteorological Department has also predicted that cyclone 'Pabuk' will bring heavy rains with itself in the Andaman Islands from January 5-7. The seven districts of Odisha that has been put on alert are Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri, Ganjam and Khurda. Fishermen have not been given a specific warning as yet by the Meteorological Department but they are asked not to sail farther in the deep sea. Recently, (December 2018), a cyclonic storm emerged over the Bay of Bengal which led to several areas in Odisha experiencing heavy rainfall. Over 11,000 people were evacuated in Odisha as Cyclone Phethai hit the state. Source: Times Now