Cyclone 'Gulab': After midnight landfall, heavy rains lash Andhra Pradesh, Odisha; Power cuts in several districts

Cyclone Gulab made landfall on Sunday in Andhra Pradesh. The weather department had issued an orange alert in north Andhra Pradesh as well as south Odisha coasts. The alert was sounded after the department noticed that the deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified on Saturday. Amid this, so far, West Bengal is not likely to be impacted due to cyclone 'Gulab'. With the landfall of the cyclone, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha experienced heavy rainfall that is expected to continue on Monday as well. IMD has predicted that Cyclone Gulab will reduce in intensity by Monday evening, going from Deep Depression to Depression.

News agency ANI quoted that 13 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Odisha and five in Andhra Pradesh

Cyclone Gulab all set to hit Odisha and Andhra Pradesh

Indian Meteorological Department tweeted, "Cyclonic Storm 'Gulab' over Northwest & adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal: Cyclone warning & post landfall outlook for north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts – Red Message: Gulab is about 180 km East-Southeast of Gopalpur and 240 km East-northeast of Kalingapatnam." As a precautionary measure, train services on the east coast have been cancelled, diverted or rescheduled. East Coast Railway tweeted, "In view of cyclone "Gulab" supposed to be hit btwn South Odisha & North Andhra Pradesh, it has bn decided to cancel, divert, reschedule,regulate & short terminate below mentioned trains as per following."

Both state governments are asking people to evacuate the areas near the sea. The Odisha government has initiated evacuation drives in seven identified districts especially in Ganjam and Gajapati districts. It is said that these two districts will be severely affected by the cyclonic storm.

Take a look at the tweets here:

As mentioned Cyclone 'Gulab' will be the second cyclonic storm to hit Odisha after 'Yaas'. It had made landfall barely four months ago. The intensity of cyclone 'Gulab' is likely to be similar to 'Titli', the storm that hit the state in 2018.

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