Evacuations As Cyclone Bears Down On 3 States

Odisha and Andhra officials ordered tens of thousands of people living along the coast to move to shelters, as hundreds of emergency workers were sent to the region. IMD issues red warning for these districts

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in three Indian states ahead of a cyclone expected to smash into the east coast later on Sunday, authorities said.

Cyclones are a regular menace in the northern Indian Ocean but many scientists say they are becoming more frequent and severe as climate change warms sea temperatures.

Cyclone Gulab is expected to make landfall between the coastal states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, bearing gusts of up to 95 kilometres per hour, the state-run India Meteorological Department said.

The storm system from the Bay of Bengal would bring “strong winds and very heavy (and) extremely heavy rainfall,” the weather bureau added in an advisory on Sunday.

Odisha and Andhra Pradesh officials ordered tens of thousands of people living along the coast to move to shelters, as hundreds of emergency workers were sent to the region.