Cyclone Mora to turn severe in 24 hours, bring heavy rainfall in Bengal, Northeast

The deep depression over east-central Bay of Bengal has intensified into a cyclonic storm Mora and over the past six hours, it moved north-eastward with a speed of 14 kmph and lay centred over east-central Bay of Bengal, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its cyclone bulletin on Monday morning. The cyclone storm is about 750km south-southeast of Kolkata and 660km south-southwest of Chittagong and is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours. 

According to IMD, it is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Bangladesh coast near Chittagong around May 30 forenoon and not make landfall in India. 
“Based on present conditions we can say that the cyclone storm is likely to transform into a severe cyclonic storm and pass closer to the eastern coast of Bangladesh, near Chittagong. It will not make landfall in India. We will only see heavy to very heavy rainfall in the range of 70-110mm as a result and fishermen from Bengal have been warned not to venture into the sea due to squally winds,” said Ganesh Kumar Das, Scientist D, Area Cyclone Warming Centre, IMD, Kolkata.

The Depression over East-Central Bay of Bengal intensified into a Deep Depression today (28-05-2017). pic.twitter.com/Sasl65PH97

— IMD-Weather (@IMDWeather) May 28, 2017

The IMD added in its bulletin that Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal are likely to see heavy to very heavy rainfall. The storm will result in squally winds with speeds reaching 40-50 kmph gusting to 60kmph along and off Andaman Island and adjoining seas during next 48 hours.

As per the current forecast and tracking, the storm is going to turn into a severe one between Monday and Tuesday and by May 31, it would become a deep depression. Winds would gust at a speed of 100-130kmph when it turns into a severe cyclonic storm, IMD said.