After causing heavy destruction in Sri Lanka, the cyclonic storm Roanu has moved north-east and currently lies centred off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km south southeast of Machilipatnam in Krishna district.

The weather system, currently moving at 25 km per hour, is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Friday night.

According to Skymet, the cyclone will move along and off the north Andhra and Odisha coasts, bringing heavy rains, before making “a landfall over Bangladesh between evening of May 21 and early morning of May 22”.

Fishermen in Odisha, Andhra and Tamil Nadu coasts have been warned not to venture into the sea. Over the next 12 hours, wind speeds are predicted to reach 90-110 kmph in north Andhra and 60-80 kmph in Odisha.

Cyclone Roanu had brought torrential rains in Sri Lanka earlier this week, affecting thousands of people. The rainfall resulted in landslides, burying scores of people, and on Friday soldiers were still searching for survivors north of Colombo.

As Roanu moved towards Andhra Pradesh from Sri Lanka, Kerala's capital Thiruvanathapuram recorded 129 mm rain in 24 hours, the highest in a decade.

In Hyderabad, the Disaster Management Department has opened a control room to monitor the situation as torrential rains batter coastal parts of the state. Along with heavy rainfall, isolated extremely heavy rainfall might occur over coastal Andhra Pradesh in next 24 hours.

Areas that are most likely to be affected include Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Kalingapatnam and Kakinada.

Rains are expected to intensify over Kolkata as the system comes closer to West Bengal coast. The city is expected to record heavy to very heavy rains and thundershowers.