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The rain fury from a prevailing depression is shifting to the western parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka after swamping Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha overnight. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) expects it to weaken a round by this (Wednesday) evening only.
The IMD located the system over West Telangana early on Wednesday morning about 130 km East-North-East of Gulbarga (Karnataka) and about 50 km West of Hyderabad. It is expected to move further west-northwestwards and weaken into a well-marked low by the evening.
Warning to fishermen
Fishermen are advised not to venture into over Gulf of Mannar and along and off Karnataka-Kerala coasts on Wednesday; North Andaman Sea and along and off South Maharashtra-Goa coast on Wednesday and Thursday; and along and off Gujarat-Maharashtra coast on Friday and Saturday.
Weakening of the system may not mean much since it is moving closer to the Arabian Sea and will mop up incremental moisture to sustain. Heavy to very heavy falls and even extremely heavy rainfall (20 cm or above) is forecast over Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan, Goa, Karnataka and Marathawada on Wednesday.
Heavy to very heavy rain seen
As for Thursday, a similar forecast is in place for Konkan, Goa, Madhya Maharashtra and South Gujarat even as the weakened depression (a likely well-marked low-pressure area) wades into the North-East Arabian Sea and possibly re-intensifies into a fresh low or even a depression.
Meanwhile, agency reports said that high winds and heavy rain have killed at least six people, three in Andhra Pradesh and three in Telangana, during the last two days. A woman was killed when the car in which she was travelling with her son and daughter-in-law was swept away.
No fresh low today
Rainfall ranging from 11 cm to 24 cm was recorded at more than a hundred locations in Andhra Pradesh, according to the IMD. The worst-hit districts are East Godavari, West Godavari, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Krishna, agency reports added.
Meanwhile, the IMD has withdrawn an outlook for a follow-up low-pressure area developing over the Bay of Bengal today (Wednesday) while its short- to medium-term guidance suggested that a potent circulation may show up over the Andaman Sea over the next week or so.
The winds are still south-westerly in the Bay of Bengal and the transition to seasonally North-East will take longer since the withdrawal of the erstwhile South-West monsoon continues to be stalled along an alignment that cuts across West India and adjoining North-West India.