Cyclone Nisarga not as severe as Amphan, says IMD

The India meteorological department on Tuesday said the current depression in the south-west Arabian Sea was likely to turn into a severe cyclone in the next 12 hours. 

"Cyclone Nisarga is likely to become a severe cyclone in the next 12 hours. It will continue to move for the next six hours in a northerly direction along the coast, after that it will re-curve as a cyclone and cross Raigad and Daman-Raigad," Aanand Sharma, deputy director, IMD, told ANI. 

"The met department has already given a warning for heavy to very heavy rains in a few places including north Maharashtra and southern Gujarat and Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli," added Sharma. 

He said the wind speeds will be around a 100-odd kilometres on June 2 and 3. “So we will have strong winds, we have heavy to very heavy and extremely heavy rain because we have the western ghats so people have to be extra careful of flash flood in the region of Palghar and nearby districts,” he added. 

The IMD official also said there was a chance of landslides in areas where a lot of activities were done in an unplanned manner. “With deforestation, there could be the possibility of landslides as well, so people have to be extra cautious about this,” he said. 

"Nisarga is not so severe like the Amphan cyclone on the east coast, so definitely it will not be strong," Anand Sharma said.