Cyclone Phailin
From the BBC: Cyclone Phailin makes landfall in India
A huge cyclone that has forced as many as 500,000 people to flee their homes has made landfall in eastern India.
Winds were measured at 200 km/h (125mph) as Cyclone Phailin hit the coast near Gopalpur, Orissa state, at about 21:15 (15:45 GMT).
Authorities had predicted a storm surge of at least 3m (10ft) that was expected to cause extensive damage.
Officials say they are better prepared than in 1999 when a cyclone killed thousands of people in Orissa.
Cyclone Phailin has been classed as “very severe”, and the head of India’s Meteorological Office, LS Rathore, said it would remain in that category for six hours before losing strength.
The eye of the storm was moving at 10-15 km/h (6-9mph), he said.
The pressure reported at landfall was 938mb which is associated with 140mph winds and Category 4 status. At one point in the track the winds were reported at 155mph, on the verge of a Category 5.
This came ashore from the Bay of Bengal which is shallow and hot like the Bay of Campeche in the southern Gulf of Mexico, and it was moving slow enough and was big enough to have been pushing a 5 meter [16 foot] storm surge. It is also going to produce heavy rain that will cause flooding in the area.
The local government pushed for evacuations and that seems to have been observed, so that should reduce the death toll from the storm.
