Cyclone 'Vardah' - Vardah' is now a severe cyclone, may intensify further Saturday Dec 10,2016

Cyclone 'Vardah' gained in strength last night Dec 09,2016 to become a severe cyclone and also picked up speed in lateral movement as it inched closer to the Andhra Pradesh coast. 

Early this morning Dec 10,2016, the India Met Department (IMD) located the system 840 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam, the closest to the coast, and 930 km south-east of Machilipatnam.

The system is likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify further during the next 24 hours. It is likely to maintain its peak intensity up to tomorrow evening. 

Thereafter, it may weaken gradually while moving towards the Andhra Pradesh coast. Landfall is expected near Nellore and Machilipatnam around Monday afternoon/evening. 

Light to moderate rainfall has been forecast at many places over coastal Andhra Pradesh tomorrow with isolated heavy falls. 

Squally winds reaching a speed of 40 to 50 km/ hr, gusting to 60 km/hr, would prevail along and off the coast from tomorrow evening. 

The sea condition would be 'rough' to 'very rough' along and off the Andhra Pradesh coast. Fishermen are advised not to venture into sea along and off the coast from today. 

Those who are already out at sea are advised to return to the coast by this evening. 

Meanwhile, an alert has been sounded to the Chief Secretaries of Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Bengal.