Thousands flee cyclone ‘half the size of India’
The east coast of India is preparing for a “very severe” cyclone which is sweeping across the bay of Bengal. The army is on standby as thousands flee low-lying areas.
Just two names are making headlines across India today.
The first is Sachin Tendulkar, the country’s most prodigious batsman who has announced his retirement from cricket next month. The second is “Cyclone Phailin”, a superstorm sweeping over the Bay of Bengal towards the east of the country.
The strongest cyclone to form on the Indian seas this year, it is expected to hit the states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh tomorrow.
Contingency measures
Fear is rarely felt in India but precautions are already being taken. In the eastern city of Bhubaneswar, people are queuing up to buy emergency supplies. The price of potatoes, candles and rice is reported to have jumped.
Meanwhile, hoteliers in Puri have been encouraged to dissuade tourists from visiting the town for at least a week. Fearing high tide, the seaside hotels have been instructed to cancel their bookings.
More than 40,000 people have been evacuated from 40 villages to shelters, schools and buildings in five districts of Orissa state. Thousands of people and cattle to safer areas in neighboring Andhra Pradesh state.
Officials have been stockpiling emergency food supplies, and setting up shelters for people expected to flee the heavy winds and rains.
Phailin is expected to hit hardest in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari districts. Teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have started preparing for the cyclone in the five districts.
Deadly combination of rain, winds, and storm surge
Tropical Cyclone Phailin is currently over the Bay of Bengal, gathering energy from the warm waters and becoming ever stronger, writes Channel 4 News Weather Presenter Liam Dutton.
The latest forecast from the Indian Meteorological Department predicts that the very severe cyclonic storm will make landfall on Saturday along the east Indian coastal state of Odisha, formerly known as Orissa.
Tropical Cyclone Phailin will provide a potentially deadly combination of heavy rain, damaging winds and a significant storm surge.
Copious amounts of rain are expected to fall over northern Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and west Bengal during the next 24 hours, with around 30cm expected. This will bring a significant risk of flooding.
Upon making landfall, steady winds are expected to be around 130mph, with gusts around 145mph - equivalent to a strong category three hurricane. Winds of this strength can rip down trees and cause structural damage to buildings.
An additional hazard for coastal areas will be a storm surge of three metres, as Phailin throws huge waves at the coastline, which could prove devastating for low-lying areas.
Even though the storm will begin to weaken as it moves inland through the weekend, it will still leave a trail of heavy rain, strong winds and flooding along its path.
Huge scale
The US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center has predicted gusts of up to 305kph.
Odisha state’s special relief commissioner, Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra, said they plan to “evacuate about 100,000 families in Ganjam district by tomorrow morning”.
Over 5,000 families have already been moved into shelters and schools and leave for government employees has been cancelled. Cyclone warnings are being broadcast through loudspeakers.
Waves over 3.5 metres tall have been reported but local fishermen are reluctant to leave their boats.
Fight against nature
Authorities in Orissa say they are setting up shelters for people who would need to be evacuated. Helicopters are on standby in west Bengal to drop food packets into isolated areas.
“We are fighting against nature. We are better prepared this time, we learnt a lot from 1999,” Orissa’s Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patra told NDTV news.
Authorities have warned of extensive damage to crops, village dwellings and old buildings, as well as disruption of essential services including power, water and rail.
Why Phailin?
Phailin, which means sapphire in Thai, is the last of the first set of 32 names suggested by Asian countries since 2004. The previous cyclone to hit the Indian sub-continent was Mahasen, which made landfall in Bangladesh on May 17, 2013.
Cyclone Mahasen was named by Sri Lanka after a king. Some Buddhists objected to it, saying that it was derogatory. The next cyclone hitting the Arabian Sea or Bay of Bengal will be named Helen. This name has been suggested by Bangladesh.
The Specialised Meteorological Centre, Delhi, gives names to tropical cyclones for identification, from a list of 64 names suggested by Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
To meet the criteria, the name should be short and readily understood when broadcast. It must not be culturally sensitive and should not convey some unintended and potentially inflammatory meaning.
A storm causes so much death and destruction that its name must be retired and not used afterwards, officials say.