The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued red colour warnings for coastal southern India as cyclone Ditwah has killed at least 56 persons in Sri Lanka. The cyclone is expected to make landfall in India on Sunday.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday issued red colour warning for coastal southern India as cyclone Ditwah battered Sri Lanka and continued to move northward. It is forecast to make landfall in India on Sunday.
Ditwah killed at least 56 people in Sri Lanka and nearly the entire country was on red alert on Friday, according to The New York Times.
In India, the IMD has forecast that extremely and heavy rainfall will lash coastal southern India from Friday to Monday.
In a statement, the IMD on Friday said that Ditwah is forecast to make landfall in coastal areas of northern Tamil Nadu and adjoining Puducherry and southern Andhra Pradesh at around 5:30 am on Sunday.
“It is very likely to continue to move north-northwestwards across Sri Lanka coast and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal and reach over southwest Bay of Bengal near North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts by 0000 UTC [05:30 am] of 30th November,” the IMD said in a statement.
Cyclone Ditwah to make landfall on Sunday, IMD issues red warning
In the wake of cyclone Ditwah’s march towards India, the IMD on Friday issued red colour warnings for coastal southern India and forecast that extremely and heavy rainfall will lash coastal southern India from Friday to Monday.
The IMD forecast heavy rainfall over Tamil Nadu during November 28 and December 01 with isolated extremely heavy rainfall over coastal Tamil Nadu between November 28 and November 30.
In coastal Andhra, Yanam, and Rayalaseema, the IMD forecast isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall likely between November 29 to December 1.
Cyclone Ditwah is likely to bring heavy rainfall and a gradual increase in wind speeds, according to B Amudha, Deputy Director General, Regional Meteorological Centre, IMD.
“Wind speeds may be 60-80 kilometre per hour (kmph) gusting to 90kmph in areas along the storm’s path. For the next two days, strong surface winds of 40-50 kmph may prevail over coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal,” Amudha told The Times of India.
Cyclone Ditwah’s trail of destruction in Sri Lanka
Cyclone Ditwah has turned out to be Sri Lanka’s worst disaster since 2017 when flooding and landslides killed more than 200 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
In addition to 26 dead, 14 people have been injured and 21 remain missing across the country.
Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Center said Ditwah has affected at least 12,000 families so far, damaging over 600 homes displacing more than 3,600 people, according to The Times.
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