IMD warns of heavy rains over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh on Saturday

New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of thunderstorm accompanied with hail and lightning, up to 30 to 40 kilometres per hour on Saturday at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh regions.

IMD had issued this prediction last Sunday.

Besides, the weather forecasting agency also predicted that some isolated places of Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal are likely to be hit by dust storm accompanied with lightning and gusty winds of 40-50 kilometres per hour on Saturday.

States in North East India such as Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are likely to receive heavy rainfall on Saturday.

The weather forecasting agency also predicted that gales with speed of around 100 to 110 kilometres per hour gusting to 125 kilometres per hour are very likely to prevail over the north Arabian Sea and Gujarat coast till evening and decrease gradually thereafter.

“The Sea condition is very likely to be phenomenal over the north Arabian Sea and Gujarat coast. Strong winds, speed reaching 40 to 50 kilometres per hour, is very likely to prevail over the east-central Bay of Bengal and adjoining the Andaman Sea and the southwest Arabian Sea off Somalia coast,” the IMD added.

The organisation has also adviced fishermen not to venture into the sea for the next few days.