Sharjah24 – AFP: A cyclone packing strong winds and rains barrelled into India's east coast late Sunday, as tens of thousands of people in three states were evacuated to shelters.
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 made landfall between the coastal states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh just after 6:00 pm local time (1230 GMT), bearing gusts of up to 95 kilometres (59 miles) 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 Sunday.
It added that there was a risk of flash flooding in some areas.
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh officials had ordered tens of thousands of people living along the coast to move to shelters, as hundreds of emergency workers were sent to the region.
There were early reports of trees being uprooted as the cyclone slammed into a coastal district in Andhra Pradesh. Some 85,000 families were expected to be moved from low-lying areas to temporary relief shelters in the state.
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