Bhubaneswar: In view of a cyclonic storm over South China sea, the Special Relief Commissioner today asked the collectors of seven coastal districts to closely watch the situation.

The alert has been issued to the collector of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri, Ganjam and Khordha.

As per the bulletin issued by the IMD dated today, a cyclonic storm 'PABUK' lay centered at 8.30 am on Jan 3 about 1500km east-southeast of Port Blair. It is very likely to move west-northwestwards and emerge into the Andaman Sea around the forenoon of Jan 5. Thereafter, it is very likely to move north-northwestwards and then recurve northeastwards towards Myanmar coast and weaken further during Jan 7-8, said the SRC in a release.

The sea condition is very likely to become very rough to high over Andaman Sea Jan 5 and adjoining areas of east-central and the southeast Bay of Bengal on Jan 6 and 7, the release said.

The fishermen are advised not to venture into the Andaman Sea from Jan 4 to 7 and into adjoining southeast and the east-central Bay of Bengal during Jan 6-7.