IndoDaily Home Page
SHAKE AND BLOW
Thousands flee to shelters as cyclone threatens India; 7 dead as tropical storm batters Philippines
Thousands flee to shelters as cyclone threatens India; 7 dead as tropical storm batters Philippines
by AFP Staff Writers
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 100,000 people in coastal areas," West Bengal state government minister Bankim Chandra Hazra told AFP.

"Authorities have ordered the shutdown of all educational institutions" in nine districts of the state until Sunday, he added.

The Indian Meteorological Department warned fishing crews to stay off the water, and authorities in Odisha state cancelled around 200 trains, according to local media reports.

A senior official at the international airport in Kolkata, India's third-biggest city by population, said authorities there were weighing whether to stop all air traffic from Thursday.

Tourists in coastal areas of both states were told to leave beach resorts and move to safe shelters.

"There was a rush of tourists at the railway station in Puri to leave," railway spokesman Kaushik Mitea told AFP.

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.

Powerful Cyclone Remal killed at least 48 people in India in May, according to government figures.

While better forecasting and more effective evacuation plans have reduced death tolls, scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer with climate change.

Seven dead, thousands evacuated as tropical storm batters Philippines
Manila (AFP) Oct 23, 2024 - Philippine rescuers waded through chest-deep floodwaters Wednesday to reach residents trapped by Tropical Storm Trami, which has killed seven people and forced thousands to evacuate as it barrels toward the east coast.

Torrential rain driven by the storm has turned streets into rivers, submerged entire villages and buried some vehicles in volcanic sediment set loose by the downpour.

At least 32,000 people have fled their homes in the northern Philippines, police said, as the storm edges closer to the Southeast Asian country's main island of Luzon.

In the Bicol region, about 400 kilometres (249 miles) southeast of the capital Manila, "unexpectedly high" flooding was complicating rescue efforts, said police.

"We sent police rescue teams but they struggled to enter some areas because the flooding was high and the current was so strong," regional police spokeswoman Luisa Calubaquib told AFP.

One person drowned inside a bus that was swept away by floodwaters in the Bicol city of Naga, where three others also drowned, police officer Bryan Ortinero told AFP.

An elderly woman drowned in Quezon province southeast of the capital, 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.

As of 2 pm (0600 GMT), Trami's centre was 160 kilometres east of Luzon's Aurora province with maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometres per hour, the national weather agency said.

It was expected to smash into the northeastern coast near the town of Divilacan at 11 pm (1500 GMT).

Photos verified by AFP on Wednesday showed streets submerged by muddy floodwaters in Camarines Sur province's Bato municipality, with only the roofs of houses and convenience stores visible.

"It's getting dangerous. We're waiting for rescuers," resident Karen Tabagan told AFP.

- 'Feeling a little helpless' -

In Naga, about 40 kilometres from Bato, half of the 600 villages were fully submerged by flooding.

At an emergency meeting of government agencies Wednesday morning, President Ferdinand Marcos said that "the worst is yet to come".

"I'm feeling a little helpless here because... all we can do is sit tight, wait, hope and pray that there is not too much damage, that there are no casualties."

Families driven from their homes in Bicol were being sheltered at about 2,500 evacuation centres scattered across the region.

"There was also a lahar flow in Albay due to the rains," Calubaquib, the Bicol police spokeswoman said, referring to volcanic sediment flowing from the Philippines' famous Mayon volcano.

Further north, authorities evacuated 216 people from the coast near Divilacan and another 60 from nearby Palanan municipality after the weather service warned of the "moderate to significant risk of life-threatening storm surge" or high coastal waves.

"They had to conduct preemptive evacuations in response to the storm surge warning .... They had to evacuate some Indigenous people who are living in houses made of light materials," Isabela provincial disaster official Constante Foronda told AFP.

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
Hurricane leaves six dead in Cuba as power blackout eases
Havana (AFP) Oct 22, 2024
Hurricane Oscar left six people dead after hitting Cuba over the weekend during a major power blackout, authorities said Monday, as electricity was restored to most of the capital. The lights went out for the Communist-run country's 10 million people on Friday after the collapse of the nation's largest power plant crippled the whole grid. By Monday afternoon, nearly 90 percent of customers in Havana - home to some two million people - had power again, the capital's electricity company said in ... read more

SHAKE AND BLOW
Hydrogen aviation has to be done properly or not at all

NASA Pilots Add Perspective to Research

US regulator finalizes air taxi rules

Search continues for crew of crashed Navy fighter jet

SHAKE AND BLOW
Strong auto prices lift GM results as it eyes China revamp

Chinese EV maker Xpeng eyes Europe factories after tariffs

Musk unveils robotaxi, pledges it 'before 2027'

Chinese electric car companies cope with European tariffs

SHAKE AND BLOW
U.S. makes $860M loan guarantee to aid Puerto Rico in strengthening its energy grid

Electricity restored to 50% of Havana after nationwide blackout: Cuba state media

70% of Cuba's population has power back after blackout

Entire island of Cuba left without electricity after failure of key power plant

SHAKE AND BLOW
Mercedes opens electric car battery recycling plant

Chinese EV battery giant CATL reports jump in profits

Efficient Nanobubble Production Method Explored by UCalgary Researchers

Seeking new energy solutions from the sea in wave power biofuel and beyond

SHAKE AND BLOW
Framatome to provide long-term fuel supply for Trillo nuclear plant

Japan shifting back to nuclear to ditch coal, power AI

Framatome completes lifecycle operations for enhanced accident-tolerant fuel assemblies in the US

Amazon bets on nuclear power to fuel AI ambitions

SHAKE AND BLOW
Exciting hint toward the solution of the neutron lifetime puzzle

How quantum entanglement unfolds in attoseconds

Swiss watch exports to China plunge 50% in September

First coherent picture of atomic nucleus structure achieved using quarks and gluons

SHAKE AND BLOW
Most markets fall as traders weigh US rates outlook

IMF lowers China 2024 growth forecast, warns property woes 'could worsen'

New HSBC boss announces bank restructuring

Stocks mixed as rate cut bets are trimmed, US vote in focus

SHAKE AND BLOW
Infighting and inflation ahead of Iraqi Kurdistan vote

Chinese premier inaugurates Pakistan airport in volatile region

Blast kills two Chinese workers in Pakistan's biggest city

Indian soldiers in Kashmir gun down two suspected rebels

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.