As Tripura continuously witnesses the scorching heat with mercury rising to 40 degrees Celsius in Agartala on Wednesday in the Norwester season; highest temperature in over 62 years, which has made life miserable in the state, the IMD has also issued warning of heavy rainfall across Tripura on May 13 and 14th next due to Cyclone Mocha.

The Indian Meteorological Department has warned that Cyclone Mocha forming over the Bay of Bengal may intensify into a very severe storm.

The IMD said that Cyclone Mocha forming over the Bay of Bengal may intensify into a very severe storm by Friday, May 12 where wind speeds can reach 130 kmph.

The cyclone will likely intensify into a depression on May 9 and into Cyclone Mocha on May 10. The storm is expected to move towards the Bangladesh and Myanmar coasts around May 12, the weather department predicted.

The Agartala station of IMD said that the deep depression over the Southeast Bay of Bengal and it is very likely to move north-northwestwards and intensify gradually into a cyclonic storm over the same region by Wednesday night (May 10). Then continuing to move north-northwestwards, it will gradually intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm by May 11th morning and very severe cyclonic storm by May 11th mid-night over southeast and adjoining central bay of Bengal.

Thereafter, it is likely to recurve gradually, moving north-northwestwards from May 12th morning.

IMD added that it is likely to weaken slightly from May 13th evening and cross southeast Bangladesh and north Myanmar coasts between  Cox’s Bazar (Bangladesh) and Kyaukpyu (Myanmar) around forenoon of May 14th, 2023 with maximum sustained wind speed of 110-120 kilometers per hour gusting to 130 kmph.

While, based on =the warning issued by the IMD, the Revenue department of the Tripura government on Wednesday has also issued an advisory  and the special secretary of the department, AK Bhattacharjee said that  IMD, Agartala centre is observing the situation and may issue special bulletins for the purpose in accordance to the cloud movements.

He said that the state government is also monitoring the situation closely and coordinating with IMD for further developments of the depression.

As per prediction of IMD , the heavy rainfall at isolated places in Tripura likely on May 13th and heavy to very heavy rainfall on May 14 due to deep depression over Bay of Bengal with wind speed gusting to 65 kmph, the Revenue department it its advisory said that department is assessing the situation regularly and alerted NDRF, SDRF, TSR, firefighters, trained volunteers and quick response teams (QRTs) in standby mode for immediate action.

The Revenue department has also asked the authorities to keep ready all equipment like boats, life jackets and other flood rescue items,  monitoring of river flows, embankments and catchment areas and should take immediate preventive and preparedness measures.

Meanwhile, the Agartala city on Wednesday had its highest temperature in 62 years as the mercury touched 40 degrees Celsius which is at least 7.2 degrees higher than normal temperature at this time of the year.  Similarly, other parts of the state also witnessed scorching heat during the past one month. The city remained hottest today with relative humidity at about 92 percent and minimum recorded temperature of 26.8 degrees Celsius with departure of plus 2.3 degrees Celsius.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials in Agartala said that the last time Agartala has recorded 40 degrees Celsius was over 62 years ago in the month of May.

The mercury hovered around 40 degrees Celsius in large parts of the country on Wednesday also, the IMD at Agartala has predicted heat wave conditions across the state on Thursday.

As Tripura is reeling under intense heat along with other parts of the region, the mercury has been hovering between 38-40 degrees Celsius in several Northeastern states also. The current weather condition witnessing a rise in the temperature several notches above for this time of the season has been affecting the normal life.

The IMD has also predicted on Thursday  (May 11) the state will witness dry weather with temperatures ranging from 39 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature to be around 27 degrees Celsius.