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Monster cyclone threatens India's densely populated eastern coastline

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Digital writers
theweathernetwork.com

Friday, October 11, 2013, 9:46 AM -

Forecasters say Cyclone Phailin will make landfall on Saturday, hitting India's densely populated eastern coastline.

As of Friday morning, Phailin was rated as the equivalent of a strong Category 4 hurricane by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The cyclone is forecast to approach the coast as the the equivalent of a strong Category 4 or 5 hurricane. 

Some forecasters likened its size and intensity to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast and New Orleans in 2005. 

The Indian Meteorological Department described Phailin as a "very severe cyclonic storm," with storm surge flooding, damaging winds and flooding rains expected.

On Friday, India's National Disaster Management Authority announced the storm could affect up to 12 million people. As a point of comparison, the population of the province of Ontario is about 13.5 million.

Local authorities say they fear massive destruction to cattle, crops and villages. Large scale power outages and road closures are also expected if the storm continues on its current path. 

Satellite images of the storm showed its spinning tails reaching nearly 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from the east coast of India to the west coast of Myanmar, an area roughly the size of France.

TUNE IN: We will be providing extended coverage of Cyclone Phailin on TV. Tune in for the latest updates.

Officials have ordered tens of thousands of coastal villagers to flee their homes as the massive storm gathered strength on Friday.

Schools and shelters are already being stocked up with food and water supplies in coastal Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states. 

The Indian air force said four transport planes and 18 helicopters are being kept ready for relief operations. 

The Bay of Bengal has been the scene of the some of the deadliest storms in recent history because of the region's vulnerability to storm surge flooding. A 1999 Orissa cyclone killed 10,000 people.



CYCLONE PHAILIN - QUICK FACTS

  • At its strongest point, hurricane Katrina had a pressure of 902 mb and winds gusting to 280 km/h. Cyclone Phailin has a current pressure of 910 mb with winds gusting to 315 km/h.
  • The storm is on track to becoming the strongest cyclone the Indian ocean/Bay of Bengal has ever recorded.
  • The last huge cyclone in this area was in 1999. It killed 10,000 people and had a storm surge of 8 metres.
  • Most coastlines are under 5 metres above sea level. If storm surge was 8 metres in 1999, it's highly likely that Phailin will produce higher surge.
  • Offshore, Phailin is already producing waves that are 18.5 metres high.
  • At the moment, about 200,000 people have been evacuated.
  • The average cyclone has an eye diameter is between 4 - 5 km. Phailin has an eye diameter of 16 km.

SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATES

With files from The Associated Press

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