BHUBANESWAR: Cyclone Phailin will move northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast between Kalingapatnam and Paradip, close to Gopalpur (Odisha) by Saturday evening as a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 205-215 km per hour (kmph), the met department has said.

"The very severe cyclonic storm, Phailin, over east central Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 15 kmph and lay centred about 520km south-southeast of Paradip, 530km from Gopalpur and 530km east-southeast of Kalingapatnam," the met department said in its latest bulletin.

Squally winds speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph would commence along Odisha coast from Friday morning. It would increase in intensity with gale wind speed reaching 205-215 kmph along and off coastal districts of south Odisha at the time of landfall. State of the sea along and off Odisha coast will be rough to very rough from Friday morning and will become phenomenal on October 12.

The cyclonic storm, Phailin, over east central Bay of Bengal moved westwards and intensified further and lay centred at 230am on Friday near latitude 15.50N and longitude 89.000E, about 590km south-southeast of Paradip and 600km southeast of Gopalpur.

Similarly, though the met department forecast a storm surge of 1.5 metre to 2 metre in Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts in the coast on Thursday, on Friday it said the storm surge height will be around 2 metre to 2.5 metre above astronomical tide. This would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur in Odisha.

A worried state government held several meetings and took stock of the situation in the changed circumstances. The state government has already asked the district authorities to start evacuation of people living in low lying areas close to the sea.

With people in Bhubaneswar queuing up for panic buying of essential commodities, prices of potato jumped to Rs 30 per kg from Rs 12 a day before. Shops were charging higher rates for candles and flattened rice as well.

The state government has asked hoteliers in Puri to dissuade tourists from visiting the town for at least a week in the event of cyclone Phailin, likely to hit the state on Saturday.

Fearing high tide, the seaside hotels have been instructed to cancel their bookings. The possibility of a cyclone has prompted the twin city commensurate police to asses safety measures at large puja mandaps and tableaux made of bamboo, wood and other heavy materials.

