Phailin on Course to Devastate India This Weekend [CAT 5 Power]

[DCPatriot]

Phailin on Course to Devastate India This Weekend


By Eric Leister, Meteorologist
October 11, 2013; 4:53 PM





India is expected to suffer catastrophic impacts from Severe Tropical Cyclone Phailin in less than 12 hours.

Destructive winds well over 160 kph (100 mph) and flooding rain of at least 100-200 mm (4-8 inches) is expected across a wide area. There will be a crippling storm surge of 4-6 meters (14-20 feet), as well as wind gusts to 250 kph, near the landfall point of Phailin which is expected across northeastern India Saturday morning EDT.

Anyone residing in the states of Orissa or eastern Andhra Pradesh is encouraged to take proper precautions and prepare for life-threatening conditions.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/phailin-on-course-to-devastate-1/18611884

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[EC]

Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/12/us-india-cyclone-idUSBRE9990LK20131012

India on red alert as "super cyclone" nears east coast

(Reuters) - Rain and wind lashed India's east coast and nearly 400,000 people fled to cyclone shelters after the government issued a red alert and warned of severe damage when one of the largest storms the country has ever seen makes landfall later on Saturday.

Muslims and Hindus gathered at mosques and temples in Odisha state, praying Cyclone Phailin would not be as devastating as a similar storm that killed 10,000 people 14 years ago. Heavy rain pounded coastal villages in neighboring Andhra Pradesh.

Phailin was packing winds of at least 220 kph (137 mph) on Saturday morning and was expected to cause a 3.4-m (11-foot) surge in sea levels when it hits the coast in the evening, the India Meteorological Department said in a statement.

"The storm has high damage potential, considering windspeed," Lakshman Singh Rathore, head of the weather department, said on Friday.

Families walked through the rain to shelters, television images showed, as gusts of wind snapped branches from trees. Tourists left popular beach resort Puri. Officials broadcast cyclone warnings through loudspeakers, radio and television.

"The wind speed is picking up," said Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner, Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra. "Some people were earlier reluctant to move. They are willing now."

Filling most of the Bay of Bengal, Phailin was about 300 km offshore on Saturday morning, satellite images showed, and was expected to reach land by nightfall. Officials said the storm was verging on becoming a "super cyclone."

More at link

[Atomic Cow]

The Bay of Bengal is one of the worst areas in the world for hurricanes.  They can kill hundreds of thousands and do so on a fairly regular basis.

[EC]

From NBC: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/12/20928795-400000-flee-super-cyclone-set-to-plow-into-indias-east-coast

The pull quote:

The India Meteorological Department said Phailin was packing winds of at least 137 mph on Saturday morning and was expected to cause an 11-foot surge in sea levels when it hits the coast in the evening.

But the London-based Tropical Storm Risk said the storm had reached "super cyclone" strength and classed it as a Category 5 storm -- the strongest. The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii said winds at sea were gusting to 196 mph.

Nearly half a million people running from this storm. Who'd blame them?

[EC]

Via Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/12/us-india-cyclone-idUSBRE9990LK20131012

(Reuters) - A fierce cyclone tore into India's east coast on Saturday night, killing at least five people and forcing about half a million into overcrowded shelters as the storm threatened to cut a swathe of devastation through farmland and fishing hamlets.

Heavy rain lashed fishing villages and wind uprooted trees. Satellite images showed a vast spiral shaped storm that filled most of the Bay of Bengal. A U.S. Navy forecast said Phailin's gusts could reach 296 kph (185 mph).

Jagdesh Dasari, a local leader in the fishing village of Mogadhalupadu near where the storm struck said police had to order villagers to leave mud and thatch huts for a school building as night fell. Similar hold-outs were reported along the poor coast, where people were afraid of losing belongings.

"Many people refused to move, had to be convinced, and at times the police had to forcefully move them to safe places," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said.

In the first reported deaths, four people were killed by falling trees, while another died when the walls of her mud house collapsed. Electricity went out in several towns, including Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar.

"We are for

People will NOT move. Admirable in some ways - bloody stupid in cases like this.