Cyclone Phailin is now officially the strongest storm ever measured in the Indian Ocean. It is striking India’s east coast today. Media reports indicate that tens of thousands are fleeing the coast, but that roads are flooding and conditions are extremely hazardous. With sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph) yesterday, Phailin’s wind speed has tied with the the Odisha cyclone (formerly Orissa) in 1999, which killed more than 10,000 people and caused $4.5 billion in damage.
By the way, what we in the U.S. call hurricanes are called cyclones in India. At least one Indian meteorologist yesterday commented that Phailin has the potential to be “worse than Katrina,” which was the hurricane that devastated New Orleans in 2005. Phailin is already half the size of India, or twice as wide as Superstorm Sandy, which struck the U.S. east coast in 2012.
The International Business Times is reporting that an estimated 260,000 people have already evacuated along the coastline of India, where Cyclone Phailin, aka Tropical Cyclone 02B, will make landfall today.
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