Srilanka, Oct. 26 -- The Department of Meteorology has issued a red warning for strong winds and rough seas in the Bay of Bengal and the deep and shallow sea areas around Sri Lanka, as cyclonic storm "Arnab" is expected to intensify further.

The warning issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre at 8.00 p.m. will remain valid for the next 12 hours.

According to the Department, the cyclonic storm over the east-central and adjoining west-central Bay of Bengal was located at around 2.30 p.m. today near latitude 15.5N and longitude 87.8E, approximately 1,050 kilometres northeast of Kankesanthurai.

The system is expected to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over the west-central Bay of Bengal, befo...