Cyclone Vardah, which is currently 240 kms west-southwest of Port Blair in Andaman Islands, intensified into a severe cyclone on Friday morning. The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal has turned into a cyclone and is moving towards the Andhra Pradesh coast triggering heavy rainfall across the Andaman Islands.
The officials expect high speed winds and heavy rainfall and the administration has asked the public to stay indoors. The cyclone is expected to move toward the north for a while before moving to the northwest towards the Andhra coast over the next four days hitting the land between Nellore and Kakinada on the afternoon or evening of December 12, the website of the Indian Meteorological Department stated.
The cyclone may also lead to an overcast sky in Kolkata and a rise in temperature over the weekend, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) was quoted by the Times of India as saying.
"If the cyclone continues to move along its present course, it may hit the coast around December12. That would be followed by easterly winds and a rise in temperature. But it is too early to predict how things would unfold in the next 72 hours. The cyclone may lose steam and fail to reach the coast. In that case, the impact on local weather would be negligible," RMC director GK Das said.
As temperatures began dipping to 17.3 degrees Celsius in Kolkata, Das said that "it will remain around the 17-18 degree mark for the next 48 hours. It may spiral up depending on the depression."
Meanwhile, over 1,000 tourists continue to be stranded for the second day at the Havelock Island in Andaman after bad weather conditions made it impossible for rescue operations to begin.
Two passenger vessels of the Andaman Shipping Services -- MV Rani Lakshmi and MV Kamorta -- were sent to Havelock to evacuate tourists, but both had to return to Port Blair because of high waves in the sea. A cargo vessel MV Badam was also sent to Havelock with supplies and medicines, but that too had to return because of bad weather conditions.
The Hindu quoted sources as saying that efforts were made to send Coast Guard vessels to Havelock to evacuate the tourists but even they had to return due to bad weather conditions. The vessels of the Indian Navy that were sent to Havelock Island on Wednesday were also asked to return considering safety issues at sea.
Cyclone Vardah has already wreaked havoc in the remote islands of Andaman like Diglipur, Rangat and Billyground that witnessed a flood-like situation due to torrential rains. Landslides were reported along the Andaman Trunk Road, while several houses and crops have been damaged in areas located in the northern and central Andaman. There is no power in several areas for two days due to the snapping of power cables.
Shipping and helicopter services have been suspended, while flights have been cancelled. Hotel and restaurant owners have been asked to help tourists by extending their bookings and providing free food.
