Odisha, Bengal brace for heavy rain as cyclonic storm intensifies; alerts issued

A low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal has intensified into a depression and is set to bring heavy to extremely heavy rainfall across Odisha and some parts of West Bengal from October 27 to 29, the Indian Meteorological Department said on Saturday.

Southern districts of West Bengal -- including North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, and Howrah -- are likely to receive heavy rain between October 28 and 30, while northern districts such as Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Dakshin Dinajpur, and Malda may see significant rainfall from October 29.

Thunderstorms with lightning are expected in Kolkata and Hooghly on October 28.

The cyclonic storm is currently lying about 420 km west-southwest of Port Blair and roughly 990–1,040 km from major coastal cities including Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kakinada, and Gopalpur. The weather department has predicted that the depression will move west-northwestwards, becoming a deep depression by October 26, and a cyclonic storm over the southwest and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal by the morning of October 27.

Bhubaneswar Meteorological Department Director Manorama Mohanty told news agency PTI that Odisha is expected to bear the brunt, with coastal districts most affected. She cautioned that predicting the exact landfall point remains difficult at this stage.

The weather department has issued tiered warnings for the state: yellow for 12 districts on Friday, rising to 21 districts on Saturday and Sunday, and statewide on Monday.

An orange warning, indicating preparedness for heavy rainfall, covered Ganjam, Gajapati, and Rayagada, while the remaining 27 districts remain under yellow alert.

On October 28, 10 districts including Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, and Cuttack are under orange alert; six districts including Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, and Balasore are under orange warning on October 29, with 10 others under yellow.

Mohanty warned of squally weather along Odisha’s coast, with winds reaching 35–45 kmph, gusting up to 55 kmph from October 26, increasing to 50–60 kmph with gusts up to 70 kmph by October 28–29.

Sea conditions are expected to be moderate to rough, prompting the IMD to advise fishermen not to venture into the Bay of Bengal.

Odisha Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said the government is closely monitoring the situation and ready to respond. "October is generally considered a cyclone-prone month. There is no need to panic. The government is fully prepared to handle the situation," he said.

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