After remnants of cyclone Gulab that hit the eastern coast of the country brought torrential rains to central Maharashtra, a senior IMD official said on Wednesday that we are witnessing a rare occurrence as the weather system might generate another cyclonic storm.
Dr Jayant Sarkar, head of the regional meteorological department of the India Meteorological Department, said such phenomenon does not happen very frequently, "though it is known among our fraternity." "It did bring excess showers over Maharashtra and put most of the regions such as Konkan, Madhya Maharashtra and Marathwada into surplus precipitation category, he told PTI.
A cyclone starts with a `depression'. Generally, a cyclonic system loses its severity once it hits the land, because the supply of moisture goes down. Cyclone Gulab hit the land between Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam on the eastern coast. But despite losing moisture supply, the system kept moving on westwards and brought intense showers over Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and later Gujarat in the last three days, said Sarkar.
The weather system received some moisture and it accelerated towards the Arabian Sea and it is expected to leave the land from Saurashtra region. With more moisture it would get intensified from depression to deep depression to cyclone," he said.
"At the same time, it will take away moisture from the coastal areas and reduce the rainfall over Gujarat's Saurashtra region as well as north Madhya Maharashtra and Konkan region, he said.
If it transforms into a new cyclone, it will be named `Shaheen', he said.
Preparations before the storm in Odisha File picture
Cyclonic storm Gulab made landfall on Sunday evening between Gopalpur in south Odisha and Kalingapatnam in north Andhra Pradesh, a few hours after two tourists from Bengal drowned in Balasore while bathing in an already turbulent sea.
The storm’s impact was felt in the Odisha districts of Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri. Srikakulam district of Andhra has also been affected.
Flooded areas in Andhra Pradesh in the aftermath of Cyclone Gulaab File picture
Further rains pounded several parts of Telangana on Monday, even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that heavy rains are expected at isolated places in different districts of the State.
The downpour caused waterlogging on some roads and low-lying areas.
The cyclone, which crossed the Bay of Bengal coast near Kalingapatnam on Sunday night, weakened into a depression and caused widespread rains in several districts of Andhra Pradesh on Monday and also left a trail of destruction, as the death toll rose to two with a woman's death.
Water-logged roads in Maharastra after Cyclone Gulab File picture
Heavy rain in catchment areas of the Manjara dam forced authorities to open all its gates for water discharge on Tuesday, leading to flooding in some villages of Maharashtra's Beed district and neighbouring Latur, while an alert was sounded in other neighbouring districts of the Marathwada region, officials said.
The local administration opened all 18 gates of the Manjara dam and 11 gates of the Majalgaon dam early Tuesday morning, resulting in discharge of 78,397 cusec 80,534 cusec water from them, respectively, officials said.
The discharge of water from the Manjara dam led to flooding in villages under Kaij and Ambajogai talukas of Beed district, Ambajogai tehsildar Vipin Patil said.
Heavy rains were witnessed in 65 circles of Nanded, 30 in Latur, 29 in Beed, 17 in Hingoli, 13 in Jalna (13), 10 in Aurangabad and six in Parbhani.
