Gujarat may escape Cyclone Maha fury, Cyclone Bulbul heads towards West Bengal

Two cyclones flank India currently and are expected to bring rainfall to areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west and Odisha and West Bengal in the east. Cyclone Maha, which was earlier expected to hit Gujarat on Thursday, may just skirt the state's coast, according to fresh predictions released by the India Meteorological Department. Meanwhile, in the east, Cyclone Bulbul is steadily gathering intensity and is predicted to move towards West Bengal. It's not clear yet if Cyclone Bulbul will make landfall in India.

According to the IMD, Cyclone Maha has weakened into a cyclonic storm and is expected to continue losing intensity. Cyclone Maha was earlier predicted to hit Gujarat by Thursday morning. However, the IMD is now predicting that Cyclone Maha will skirt the coast of Gujarat and lie around 40 kms below Diu by noon Thursday. The IMD has predicted that Maha will have weakened to a deep depression by then and that it will become a depression by evening.

Considering Cyclone Maha's losing intensity, the IMD has withdrawn much of its earlier warnings. However, predictions of heavy rainfall in several areas of Gujarat and moderate rainfall in some parts of Maharashtra remain in effect.

The IMD has predicted the regions of Diu, Junagarh, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Surat, Bharuch, Anand, Porbandar, Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Vadodara will receive moderate to heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. In Mahrashtra, the north Konkan region, including Mumbai and Thane, will receive rainfall along with some other northern areas.

The IMD has also advised fishermen not to venture out to sea along the coast of Gujarat or north Maharashtra until Friday.

Rescue agencies, including the Indian Coast Guard, Indian Navy and disaster relief forces, remain on standby to deal with Cyclone Maha and its aftermath.

CYCLONE BULBUL

Meanwhile in the east, a storm is forming over the Bay of Bengal. Cyclone Bulbul is expected to steadily gather intensity over the next few days. Currently, the IMD has not said whether Cyclone Bulbul will hit Indian mainland.

IMD has released predictions for until Monday morning, when Cyclone Bulbul will lie south of West Bengal over the Bay of Bengal. At that point Bulbul's intensity is expected to be a severe cyclonic storm.

While information on Cyclone Bulbul and its expected impacts is scant, the IMD has released rainfall predictions for the eastern coast.

According to the IMD, Cyclone Bulbul will cause light to moderate rainfall over Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the next 24 hours, over north coastal Odisha on Saturday and Sunday and over coastal West Bengal on Sunday and Monday.

More will be known about Cyclone Bulbul in the next couple of days as IMD released more-detailed bulletins.