Cyclone Hamoon intensified into a ‘very severe’ cyclonic storm on Tuesday morning and moved east-northeastwards with a speed of 23 kmph over the Bay of Bengal, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
“The Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Hamoon’ (pronounced as Hamoon) over the Northwest and adjoining Northeast Bay of Bengal moved east-northeastwards…,” said a statement issued by director of the Meteorological Centre, Amaravati. “It is likely to further weaken while moving northeastwards and cross Bangladesh coast close to the south of Chittagong by early hours of 25th October as a Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 80 to 90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph,” said IMD.
In this regard, IMD has predicted isolated heavy rainfall over the North Eastern region on October 25. It added that the rainfall intensity will decrease on October 26 with light to moderate rainfall at a few places over the region.
“Heavy rainfall is likely over Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and south Assam. Thunderstorms with lightning have been forecast over Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura on October 25,” IMD said.
In a rare case, India witnessed the menace of twin cyclones (Hamoon and Tej) brewing over Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal at the same time.
However, IMD said that very severe cyclonic storm Tej on Tuesday crossed the Yemen coast south of Al Ghayda between 02:30 and 03:30 on October 24 with maximum sustained wind speed reaching 125-135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph.