Cyclone Mocha has become a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm, however it is not expected to have a significant impact on India’s eastern-southeastern coastal states of West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director-general of the IMD, claims that no warnings about wind speed or precipitation have been issued for Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The scorching weather over coastal Andhra, which is forecast to see a heatwave throughout the weekend, may actually be made worse by Mocha.
Even though West Bengal won’t experience the adverse weather brought on by the cyclone, its government has begun to take precautions.
An official told The Times of India: “Though the weather office has predicted that Cyclone Mocha will dodge past West Bengal, we have taken all precautionary measures in case there is any change. We have shifted people living in the low-lying coastal areas of Purba Medinipur, South 24 Parganas to our safe shelters and adequate relief materials have been sent to these areas.” Any visible impact on this region will only be restricted to the coastline, owing to the likelihood of rough sea conditions across the Bay of Bengal.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recommended fishermen, ships, boats, and trawlers against travelling into southeast Bay of Bengal till Friday, central-northeast Bay of Bengal until Sunday, and north Andaman Sea until Monday due to the storm in the sea. People in the water have been told to head back to land.
The Northeast is the only region of India that is anticipated to see Cyclone Mocha’s direct effects. Beginning on Saturday, the area will have heavy to extremely heavy rainfall for the next three days (May 13).
According to the IMD’s most recent assessment, Mocha was a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm this morning and was centred over central and adjacent southeast BoB. At 8:30 am, it was situated about 870 kilometres south-southwest of Sittwe, 950 kilometres south-southwest of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, and 530 kilometres west-northwest of Port Blair, Andaman-Nicobar (Myanmar).
It is extremely expected to continue intensifying across east-central BoB for the following 48 to 72 hours as it moves north-northeastward from here. By Sunday midday, it will cross the shores of northwestern Myanmar and southeast Bangladesh between Cox’s Bazar (Myanmar) and Kyaukpyu (Bangladesh), not far from Sittwe (Myanmar), as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 150–160 kmph and gusting to 175 kmph.