Cyclone Vardah likely to maintain its intensity up to Sunday

Hyderabad: Cyclonic storm Vardah is very likely to maintain its peak intensity up to evening of December 11, 2016.

Giving details about Cyclone Vardha, an India Meteorological Department press release said, Cyclonic storm Vardah on Friday moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 5 kmph during past 24 hours over southeast Bay of Bengal near Latitude 12.1ºN and Longitude 90.4ºE, about 990 km southeast of Visakhapatnam, 1090 km eastsoutheast of Machilipatnam and 250 km west-northwest of Port Blair.

The system is very likely to intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm.

It is very likely to move initially northwestwards, then westnorthwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Kakinada around afternoon/evening of 12th December 2016. However, there is possibility of slight weakening of the system before landfall.