India Meteorological Department said that a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal strengthened into a cyclonic storm on Friday. The storm, named 'Midhili,' is projected to pass near the Sunderbans before making landfall on the coast of Bangladesh, carrying maximum wind speeds of 80 kmph, as stated in the IMD bulletin.
The bulletin reported that the cyclonic storm is expected to reach the Bangladesh coast during the night of November 17 or the early hours of November 18.
As of 5:30 am on Friday, the system over the Bay of Bengal was centred approximately 190 km east of Paradip (Odisha), 200 km south-southeast of Digha (West Bengal), and 220 km southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh), according to the national weather agency.
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"It is likely to continue to move north-northeastwards and cross Bangladesh coast close to Khepupara with wind speed of 60-70 kmph gusting to 80 kmph during November 17 night or early hours of November 18," the IMD said.
The name 'Midhili' was given by the Maldives. Countries affected by the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal cyclones rotationally give names of cyclones in a sequence.
IMD scientist Umashankar Das mentioned that despite Cyclone Midhili passing over 150 kilometres from Odisha's coastline, the state is likely to witness heavy rainfall in specific districts like Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur on Friday.
Meanwhile, Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) has put all the District Collectors on alert in the wake of the cyclone in the BoB. "We do not want to take any chance and therefore put the state machinery on alert for any eventuality," SRC Satyabrata Sahoo said.
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However, the IMD forecast said West Bengal's coastal districts like North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, East Medinpur and Kolkata are likely to get rainfall in the range of 20 mm to 110 mm within 24 hours of Friday.
This is the second deep depression during this season. The previous cyclone Hamoon also headed towards the Bangladesh coast.
