The short version: A storm brewing over the Bay of Bengal is expected to become a cyclonic storm by Monday morning and make landfall on the morning of Wednesday, October 28, somewhere between the northern Andhra Pradesh coast and the southern Odisha coast. Odisha has put all 30 of its districts on alert, ordered schools shut in the five districts expected to be hit hardest, and placed national and state rescue teams on standby. The state government says its goal is zero casualties.
India’s weather office, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), laid out the timeline on Saturday. The well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal was expected to become a depression on Saturday, deepen into a deep depression on Sunday, October 25, and intensify into a cyclonic storm by Monday morning. It would then track west-northwestwards and reach the coast near Andhra Pradesh around the morning of October 28.
“It is likely to make landfall on the morning of October 28 somewhere between northern Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha coasts,” IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told the Press Trust of India. The exact landfall point and intensity will depend on how the system develops over the next two days.
What Odisha is doing:
- Schools closed: Schools, colleges and childcare centres in Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri — the five districts expected to be worst affected — will close on October 28 and 29. Collectors in other districts can order closures locally as the situation develops.
- Staff on duty: Leave has been cancelled for government employees in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri and Khurda districts.
- Rescue teams ready: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Fire Services are on standby, with cyclone shelters prepared for evacuations from low-lying areas.
- Vulnerable people first: Officials have been told to identify pregnant women near their delivery dates in cyclone-prone areas and move them in advance to shelters or hospitals, with medical relief centres and mobile health teams stocked and ready.
- Clearing hazards: In Cuttack, organisers of Durga Puja festivities — a major Hindu festival under way this week — have been asked to take down decorative bamboo structures that high winds could turn into projectiles.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi reviewed preparations on Saturday and directed officials to prioritise public safety, evacuation and emergency response. Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said all 30 districts had been told to stay alert, with collectors in 16 coastal and southern districts advised to take precautionary measures. Fishermen still at sea have been told to return to shore immediately.
The storm is expected to bring heavy to extremely heavy rainfall to parts of eastern India, with gusty winds of 70–90 km/h in Odisha, according to the chief minister’s office. Heavy rain is expected from October 26, two days before landfall.
Why this matters: Warnings like this one are, in a sense, a success story. The Bay of Bengal has produced some of the deadliest storms in recorded history, and Odisha itself lost more than 10,000 people to a super cyclone in 1999. Since then, better forecasting, mass evacuations and a network of cyclone shelters have cut death tolls dramatically — most recent cyclones in the region have killed in double figures rather than thousands. A forecast issued four days out, with schools closed and shelters stocked before a single drop of rain, is exactly how that system is supposed to work. The test, as ever, will be whether the storm keeps to its predicted track — and whether people in its path heed the warnings.
Internal links: Super Typhoon Champi’s eyewall came ashore on Guam (recent storm coverage); Hurricane Trudy bearing down on Mexico. Outbound: India Meteorological Department (IMD).
