Bhubaneswar: The cyclonic storm FANI is gradually increasing its power and likely to intensify into an Extremely Severe cyclonic storm by 1st May night and 2nd May Morning, the Indian Meteorological department said. The cyclonic storm, which is currently at about 690 km east-southeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 990 km southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and 1170 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh), is moving at less than 10 kilometres per hour in the last 6 hours. Maximum surface wind speed is likely to reach 195 Kilimetres per hour by 2nd May morning.
“The Cyclonic Storm ‘FANI’ (pronounced as ‘FONI’) over southeast Bay of Bengal & neighbourhood moved northwestwards with a speed of about 10 kmph in last six hours and lay centred at 1430 hrs IST of 28 th April, 2019 near latitude 7.7°N and longitude 87.5°E over south-east Bay of Bengal & neighbourhood, about 690 km east-southeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 990 km southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and 1170 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh). It is very likely to intensify into a Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 06 hours and into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm during subsequent 24 hours. It is very likely to move northwestwards till 01st May evening and thereafter recurve north-north-eastwards gradually” IMD said in its special bulletin on the cyclone.