The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a Red Message for districts of north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts on Wednesday as the very severe cyclonic storm Titli gained momentum over west-central Bay of Bengal.

“Yesterday’s cyclonic storm over west-central Bay of Bengal (BoB) moved west-northwestwards, intensified into a severe cyclonic storm in the early morning and into a very severe cyclonic storm around noon of today, 10 October 2018,” read a statement issued by the Ministry of Earth Science.

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Titli is being monitored by the coastal Doppler Weather Radars at Visakhapatnam, Gopalpur and Paradip.

The storm is very likely to intensify further in the next 12 hours. It is very likely to move north- northwestwards and cross Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh coasts between Gopalpur and Kalingapatnam around morning of 11 October.

“Thereafter, it is very likely to re-curve northeastwards, move towards Gangetic West Bengal across Odisha and weaken gradually,” the Met said.

The storm packs wind speeds reaching 130-140 kmph gusting to 155 kmph over deep sea areas of west-central Bay of Bengal. The wind speed is likely to increase to 140-150 kmph bracket by forenoon of 11 October.

Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh were hit in the afternoon today by wind speeds of 60-70 kmph of the approaching cyclone.

Low lying areas of Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, Ganjam, Khurda and Puri districts of Odisha will face a storm surge of height of about 1.0 meter above astronomical tide when the cyclone makes landfall.

Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam of Andhra Pradesh and Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Nayagarh and Puri districts of Odisha have been put on high alert.

The Ministry has said that the cyclone will cause destruction of thatched houses and extensive damage to kutcha houses.

People have been told to take shelter and the threat from bending or uprooting power lines, trees and communication poles.

The cyclone is expected to damage standing crops, plantations and orchards. Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea and suspend all operations.

 Train services hit, evacuation on

Train services between Khurda Road in Odisha and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh has been suspended in view of warnings on cyclone Titli, an official statement said on Wednesday.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) said that to and fro trains between Khurda Road and Vizianagaram will not be allowed after 10 pm till further orders in view of the warning of a cyclonic storm, expected to hit the coastline in the two states on Thursday morning.

The Odisha government directed the Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara district administrations to evacuate all those areas where cyclonic storm Titli is expected to pass through after making landfall on Thursday morning.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed the collectors of these five districts to ensure ‘zero casualty’ after the Met office said Titli has been upgraded to “severe” category.

The chief secretary said so far, 10 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and eight teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) have been deployed in various coastal and interior districts.