Tropical Cyclone Phailin intensified rapidly in the Bay of Bengal on Thursday and is now headed for the northeast coast of India. Estimated top sustained winds increased from 65 mph to 155 mph in just 24 hours, according to Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground.
(MORE: India Prepares For Phailin)
Satellite of Phailin
(Note: A tropical cyclone is what we call a hurricane in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans.)
As of late Friday morning (U.S. time), Phailin was rated as the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Phailin is forecast to make landfall along the coast of the state of Odisha or the far northeastern Andrha Pradesh state, northeast of the town of Visakhapatnam in India, on Saturday. The cyclone is forecast to approach the coast as the equivalent of a strong Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane.
(INTERACTIVE MAP: Phailin's Projected Path)
This portion of the India coast where Phailin is headed will be threatened by several potentially deadly impacts including storm surge flooding, damaging winds and flooding rainfall.
The northeast Indian coast is extremely prone to storm surge flooding, which makes this particular impact a huge concern for low-lying areas.
Many of the world's deadliest tropical cyclones have come from the Bay of Bengal because of the region's extreme vulnerability to storm surge flooding. This includes portions of northeast India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
(MORE: The Cyclone That Killed 200,000)
The most recent major tropical cyclone to hit the northeast India coast was the 1999 Odisha Cyclone. A total 9,658 people were killed, making the cyclone the fourth deadliest in the last 100 years for India.
For a full look at some of the most historic Indian cyclones, click here to read this blog from Chris Burt of Weather Underground.
Check back for more updates and information on this dangerous threat to India the next couple of days.
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