Bhubaneswar: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its latest bulletin stated the Cyclonic storm ‘Gulab’ over Bay of Bengal has been moving westwards with a speed of 25 kmph during past three hours. The landfall process will commence from around 6 PM today.

The weathermen added the cyclonic storm is likely to move nearly westwards and cross North Andhra Pradesh - South Odisha coasts between Kalingapatnam and Gopalpur. During the landfall the maximum sustained wind speed is likely to be 75-85 kmph gusting to 95 kmph, by mid-night of September 26, 2021.

The Cyclonic Storm ‘Gulab’ (pronounced as ‘Gul-aab’) lay centred at 1630 hrs IST of September 26 over northwest and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal near latitude 18.45°N and longitude 84.9°E, about 85 km east-northeast of Kalingapattnum and95 km south of Goplapur, the bulletin added.

Light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall (≥ 20 cm) at isolated places are very likely over South Odisha and north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

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Heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places is also likely over Telangana and heavy falls at isolated places over north interior Odisha and Chhattisgarh have been predicted.

Tidal wave of about 0.5 m height above the astronomical tide are expected to inundate low lying areas of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Ganjam districts during the time of landfall of the cyclone.