The Ministry of Earth Sciences has observed that the states of Telangana, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh could witness flash floods in the next 24 hours under the influence of cyclonic storm Gulab, which has now weakened into a deep depression. The cyclonic storm crossed the Bay of Bengal coast off Kalingapatnam on the evening of Sunday, September 26.
The Ministry, in its guidance bulletin issued on Monday, observed that there is an imminent flash flood threat to coastal Andhra Pradesh. It said that a ‘high threat’ of surface inundations was noticed in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Guntur districts, while ‘moderate to high threat’ with surface inundations was observed in Krishna district and Koraput district of Odisha.
The Ministry in its forecast for Monday, also said that there is a high threat of flash floods in Guntur and Krishna districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh, and moderate to high threat in Andhra’s Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts, Chhattisgarh’s Sukma and Bijapur districts, Koraput district of Odisha, and Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Suryapet and Nalgonda districts of Telangana.
Meanwhile, Cyclone Gulab has formed into a deep depression over south Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh. It has moved westwards with a speed of 8 kmph and lay centered over south Odisha and adjoining south Chhattisgarh. It is likely to move nearly westwards and weaken into a depression during the next six hours and form into a well marked low pressure area, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The IMD had issued a red warning (extremely heavy rainfall) to Telangana for Monday. The districts of Nirmal, Nizamabad, Jagityal, Rajanna-Sircilla, Karimnagar, Peddapalli, Bhadradri Kothagudem, Khammam, Mahabubabad, Warangal (Rural), Warangal (Urban), Janagaon,Siddipet and Kamareddy districts are predicted to receive extremely heavy rainfall.
Adilabad, Asifabad, Mancherial, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Mulugu, Suryapet, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, Rangareddy, Hyderabad, Medchal Malkajgiri, Vikarabad, Sangareddy and Medak districts will receive heavy to very rainfall, the IMD said. It forecasted that heavy rain is very likely to occur in Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Wanaparthy, Narayanpet, Jogulamba Gadwal districts. It also said that thunderstorms accompanied with lightning and gusty winds (30-40 kmph) are very likely to occur at isolated places in all districts of Telangana.
The IMD forecasted that the state would continue to receive heavy rains on Tuesday as well.