Cyclone Fani Likely To Intensify Into "Severe Cyclonic Storm" Today

Cyclone Fani was found laying centred at 1,050 km southeast of Chennai, IMD said today.

Cyclone Fani, which is inching closer to the coast of north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh, is likely to intensify into a "severe cyclonic storm" today, the weather department has said. "Fani" could strengthen into a "very severe cyclonic storm" in the next 24 hours and reach the coast by Tuesday evening, the agency said. 

Cyclone Fani was 1,050 km southeast of Chennai and 1,230 km away from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, the Met office had tweeted early this morning.

According to an update shared by the India Meteorological department (IMD), Cyclone Fani is moving northwestwards at a speed of 16 km per hour and is likely to recurve northeastwards after April 30

Fishermen who are still venturing into the sea have been advised to return to the coast by today.

The storm has been named ''Fani,'' as suggested by Bangladesh.

There is "little chance" of the storm crossing the Tamil Nadu coast, reported news agency IANS, quoting S Balachandran, who heads the Area Cyclone Warning Centre, as saying.

The wind speed is likely to decrease gradually by May 3.

Meanwhile, the Met department predicted light to moderate rain in many places with heavy rain in parts of Kerala on Monday and Tuesday. Light to moderate rain is expected in a few places in northern coastal Tamil Nadu and coastal Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Besides squally winds that were very likely to become gale gusting up to a maximum of 145 kmph in the next two days in the Equatorial Indian Ocean and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, the sea condition was also rough to very rough in these areas, it said.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS)