Srilanka, Oct. 27 -- A red-level warning has been issued for strong winds and rough seas in the Bay of Bengal and deep and shallow sea areas around Sri Lanka, with fishing and naval communities warned against venturing into affected waters.

The warning issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 9:00 p.m. will remain valid for the next 24 hours.

According to the advisory, the very severe cyclonic storm "Arnab", located over the west-central Bay of Bengal, was centred near latitude 16.2N and longitude 83.3E at 2.30 p.m., approximately 800 kilometres northeast of Kankesanthurai.

The storm is expected to move west-northwestwards over the next few hours before turning northwestwards and crossing the Indian state of Andhra Prades...