24/7 Space News
SHAKE AND BLOW
Millions flee as cyclone approaches India, Philippines races to reach stranded as toll rises
stock image only
Millions flee as cyclone approaches India, Philippines races to reach stranded as toll rises
By Sailendra SIL with Sheikh Sabiha ALAM in Dhaka
Kolkata (AFP) Oct 24, 2024

At least 1.1 million people on India's eastern coast are fleeing to storm shelters inland, hours before a powerful cyclone is expected to hammer the low-lying region, ministers said Thursday.

Cyclone Dana is likely to hit the coasts of West Bengal and Odisha states -- home to around 150 million people -- as a "severe cyclonic storm" late on Thursday, India's weather bureau said.

It predicts winds will be gusting up to 120 kilometres an hour (74 miles per hour).

Major airports will shut overnight, including key travel hub Kolkata, where heavy rain was already lashing the sprawling megacity.

The eye of the storm is predicted to make landfall early Friday, near the coal-exporting port of Dhamra, about 230 kilometres (140 miles) southwest of the megacity Kolkata.

It is also expected to impact neighbouring low-lying Bangladesh, where the leader of the interim government Muhammad Yunus said that "extensive preparations" are being made.

Crashing waves are expected to inundate swathes of coastal areas, with water predicted to surge up to two metres (6.5 feet) above usual tide levels.

Odisha state health minister Mukesh Mahaling told AFP that "nearly a million people from the coastal areas are being evacuated to cyclone centres".

In neighbouring West Bengal state, government minister Bankim Chandra Hazra said: "More than 100,000 people have so far been shifted to safer places."

- 'Save lives' -

Businesses in Puri, a popular beach resort, have been ordered to close, and tourists told to leave.

"All efforts are being made to face the cyclone and save lives," said Puri district magistrate Siddharth Swain.

Kolkata airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria said flights will be suspended overnight Thursday due to "predicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall".

The airport in the city of Bhubaneshwar will do the same, while scores of trains have been cancelled and ferries from Kolkata ordered to stay in port.

Bangladesh disaster minister Faruk-e-Azam told AFP that authorities were on "high alert" but evacuation orders had not been issued as it was predicted the worst of the storm would hit India.

"We are closely monitoring the cyclone's progress," he said.

Cyclones -- the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific -- are a regular and deadly menace in the northern Indian Ocean.

Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world heats up due to climate change driven by burning fossil fuels.

Warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapour, which provides additional energy for storms, strengthening winds.

A warming atmosphere also allows them to hold more water, boosting heavy rainfall.

However, better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced death tolls.

In May, Cyclone Remal killed at least 48 people in India, and at least 17 people in Bangladesh, according to government figures.

Philippines races to reach stranded as storm's death toll rises
Manila (AFP) Oct 24, 2024 - Philippine rescuers raced Thursday to reach residents still stranded by flooding in the hard-hit Bicol region, after torrential rains from Tropical Storm Trami submerged villages and killed more than 20 people.

Schools and government offices were shuttered across the northern Philippines as the storm made landfall on the country's main island of Luzon after first paving a trail of destruction south of the capital.

"As of 7 am, we have 20 dead (throughout the Bicol region)," regional police chief Brigadier-General Andre Dizon told reporters Thursday, adding the figure had yet to be finalised. "Most of them from drowning or buried in landslides."

In Naga city and the town of Nabua, rescuers were using boats to reach residents still stranded on rooftops.

"They are seeking assistance through (Facebook) posts and that's how we learned about them," Bicol police spokeswoman Luisa Calubaquib told AFP.

According to the national weather service, the eye of the storm was passing over the northern Philippines' mountainous interior as of 8 am (0000 GMT) with maximum sustained wind speeds of 95 kilometres (59 miles) per hour.

It was predicted to exit the island within 12 hours.

More than 30,000 people were forced to evacuate in Bicol on Wednesday, police said, as "unexpectedly high" flooding turned streets into rivers.

Lorie Dela Cruz of the state weather bureau told AFP a month's worth of rainfall had been dumped in the region in a 24-hour window from 8 am on October 22 to the following morning, with Camarines Sur province and Albay province's Legazpi city particularly hard hit.

On Thursday, rescuers were searching for a missing fisherman after a boat sunk in the waters off Bulacan province, west of Manila, the local disaster agency told AFP.

"Rescuing people was difficult since the wind was strong and was causing a strong current," said Geraldine Martinez, a rescue officer in Bulacan's Obando municipality.

A day earlier, 11 people drowned in floodwaters in the Bicol city of Naga, according to local police chief Erwin Rebellion.

In Quezon province, southeast of the capital, an elderly woman drowned, while a toddler was also killed after falling into a flooded canal, police said.

Manila's civil defence office reported one person was killed by a falling tree branch.

Storms and typhoons are common around the region at this time of year.

However, a recent study showed that they are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the Philippines or its surrounding waters each year, damaging homes and infrastructure and killing dozens of people.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
SHAKE AND BLOW
Thousands flee to shelters as cyclone threatens India; 7 dead as tropical storm batters Philippines
Kolkata (AFP) Oct 23, 2024
Thousands of people living along India's eastern coast fled to inland storm shelters on Wednesday ahead of the expected arrival of a powerful cyclone later this week. Cyclone Dana is likely to hit the coasts of West Bengal and Odisha states - together home to around 150 million people - as a "severe cyclonic storm", India's weather bureau said. It is forecast to make landfall near Puri, a popular tourist destination, late on Thursday night. "Authorities have begun evacuating more than 100 ... read more

SHAKE AND BLOW
Don't let tech gurus decide the future: Nobel winner Simon Johnson

The astronaut wears Prada as Axiom unveils new spacesuit

NASA targets multiple Commercial Crew missions in 2025

Kremlin denies space programme lagging after SpaceX launch

SHAKE AND BLOW
US Space Force awards SpaceX over $733M for national security launch services

Southern Launch and Varda secure Australian approval for spacecraft re-entry at Koonibba Test Range

Space Force Funds $35M Space Propulsion Institute Led by U-M

Rocket Lab Adds Mission to 2024 Launch Schedule, Prepares for Launch in Days

SHAKE AND BLOW
NASA selects crew for 45-day simulated Mars mission in Houston

Potential microbial habitats in Martian ice

Perseverance just keeps roving across Mars

New Team Evaluates Plans for NASA's Mars Sample Return Program

SHAKE AND BLOW
China sets ambitious space science development goals through 2050

China successfully retrieves first reusable test satellite Shijian-19

China unveils new lunar spacesuit design ahead of moon mission

Shenzhou XIX crew to launch as Shenzhou XVIII returns

SHAKE AND BLOW
Intelsat expands satellite backhaul services in Nigeria and West Africa

China deploys 18 new satellites for Spacesail network

Airbus Defence and Space announces restructuring amid market challenges

Space Business Insights Explored in New Book

SHAKE AND BLOW
Successful test could lead to discovery of element 120

A micro-scale look at how parachute textiles act under stress

Materials of the future could be harvested from wastewater

Drought forces Big Tech to rethink thirsty LatAm data centers

SHAKE AND BLOW
Microbes thrive on iron in oxygen-free environments

It's twins mystery of famed brown dwarf solved

Astronomers Use New Technique to Search for Alien Signals Between Planets

Using AI to find the smallest and closest exoplanets around sun-like stars

SHAKE AND BLOW
NASA and SpaceX Set for Europa Clipper Launch on October 14

NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon

Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate

NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.