Insight Bureau: As per the latest information from the Indian Meterorlogical Department (IMD), the Cyclonic Storm known as ‘Jawad’ (pronounced as JOWAD) will weaken further into a deep depression with a wind speed of 75 km/hr when it reaches the Puri Coast tomorrow noon.

Although the impact of the Cyclone will be less, heavy rains may still occur in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Ganjam, Gajapati, Khordha, Cuttack districts.

Cyclone Jawad over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved slightly northwards with a speed of 04 kmph during past 06 hrs & lay centered at 0530 hrs IST of today, about 230 km southeast of Vishakhapatnam, 410 km south-southwest of Puri & 490 km south-southwest of Paradip.

It’s likely to weaken gradually & move nearly northwards during next 12 hours and then north-northeastwards along Odisha coast reaching near Puri around 5th Dec noon as a Deep Depression. It’s likely to weaken further and move north-northeastwards towards West Bengal coast.

Intermittent rain has been continuing from the midnight across Puri district. Wind speed is around 20Km/hr in 6 coastal blocks.

688 persons have been evacuated till now while 14 pregnant women have already been shifted to hospital in the district, confirms SRC Pradeep Jena.

Orange Warning has been issued for Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur in some parts of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack city area over the next 24 hours.