EMERGENCY RESPONSE
The cyclone is expected to hit India’s south-east coast near the town of Bapatla, on the 300km stretch between Nellore and Machilipatnam.
Hundreds of people from coastal villages in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh have moved inland, with emergency rescue teams deployed to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone’s landfall, according to local media.
The rains and winds also snapped power lines and uprooted trees, officials said, and more than 140 trains and 40 flights were cancelled in Andhra Pradesh.
Sea surges of waves up to 1.5m above normal tide levels are expected when the cyclone makes landfall, the IMD said.
Home Minister Amit Shah said the government was “braced to provide all the necessary assistance to Andhra Pradesh”, with rescue teams deployed and more “on standby to mobilise as needed”.
The cyclone is expected to weaken late on Tuesday.
Apple iPhone manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron and automaker Hyundai suspended their operations in Tamil Nadu due to the storm, local media reported.
Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer with climate change.
Cyclones – the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the north-west Pacific – are a regular and deadly menace on coasts in the northern Indian Ocean, where tens of millions of people live.
In December 2015, floods in Tamil Nadu killed at least 290 people and caused widespread damage.
Source: CNA
