Cyclonic storm Asani weakens into deep depression

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After bringing heavy rainfall in almost all four southern states, especially the Andhra Pradesh coast, cyclonic storm Asani weakened into a deep depression post afternoon as it lay near Andhra Pradesh coast on Wednesday evening. The deep depression (remnant of cyclonic storm) is likely to weaken into a Depression on Thursday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

At 5.30 p.m., the system lay centred over west-central Bay of Bengal about 20 kms northeast of Machilipatnam and 50 kms west-southwest of Narsapur. "Latest observations indicate that the system is crossing Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Narsapur as a deep depression with wind speed of 55-65 gusting to 75 kmph," IMD Bulletin said.

Explaining the reasons behind faster weakening of the system, Monica Sharma, a scientist from the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC), said in the special bulletin: "The system has come close to the coast and due to land interactions, will weaken gradually. Also, as the system moves further north-northeastwards, it will encounter lower sea surface temperatures (SST) among other factors."

As wind speed disrupted flight movements at Visakhapatnam and Andhra Pradesh government set up more than 450 relief camps for persons likely to be affected, through the day, the system moved nearly northwards with a speed of about 7 kmph. It is likely to move north-northwest wards along the Yanam, Kakinada and Tuni coasts and emerge into west-central Bay of Bengal, off north Andhra Pradesh coast, as a further weaker system around Thursday night, the bulletin said.

The IMD has forecast that squally wind speed reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph is likely to prevail along and off Krishna, East & West Godavari, Yanam (part of Puducherry UT) and Visakhapatnam districts. It would then decrease gradually to 44-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph over the same region by Thursday morning.

While Wednesday witnessed heavy rainfall along the Andhra coast including storm and local flooding- the IMD had also issued warning to fishermen for Thursday. Light to moderate rainfall is likely at many places over coastal Andhra Pradesh, coastal areas of Odisha and West Bengal and heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh, the IMD said. Asani and now the remnant system brought heavy rainfall to large parts of not just Andhra Pradesh but also in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

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