Cyclone 'Tej' intensifies into extremely severe cyclonic storm, says IMD

Cyclone 'Tej', brewing in the Arabian Sea, intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Sunday and is headed towards the Yemen-Oman coasts, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The cyclonic storm is predicted to move northwestwards and cross the Yemen-Oman coasts between Al Ghaidah (Yemen) and Salalah (Oman), close to the east of Al Ghaidah around noon on October 24 as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 115-125 kmph, gusting to 140 kmph, it said.

"The very severe cyclonic storm 'Tej' intensified into an extremely severe cyclonic storm and lay centred about 160 km east-southeast of Socotra (Yemen), 540 km south-southeast of Salalah (Oman), and 550 km southeast of Al Ghaidah (Yemen) at 8:30 am on Sunday," the IMD said in a statement.

The IMD also said the depression over the west-central Bay of Bengal is likely to further intensify into a deep depression by early Monday morning.

It is then predicted to recurve and move north-northeastwards during the subsequent three days towards Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal coasts, the Met office said.