Cyclone Phailin the size of Katrina: foreign media

New Delhi: Cyclonic storm "Phailin", classified as "very severe" by the weather department, is expected to hit coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at around 5:30 pm on Saturday.

Here is what the foreign media has to say about the cyclone:
The Washington Post: Potentially catastrophic cyclone Phailin, size of Katrina, headed for India

Over the last day, a cyclone over the Bay of Bengal has explosively strengthened as it marches towards the east coast of India, presenting a clear and present danger to the country of over a billion people.

In the last 18 hours, Phailin's peak winds have increased an astonishing 80 mph (or 70 knots), a rare rate of intensification.

"Based on satellite estimates, maximum sustained winds are now easily around 160 mph (140 knots)," says Ryan Maue, a meteorologist at WeatherBell.com, a private forecasting services company.

Those wind speeds would make Phailin the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane, capable of catastrophic damage.

Phailin is not only intense, but also large.

"It's equivalent to Katrina in size," Maue says. (Read More Here)


The Wall Street Journal: India Braces for Cyclone Phailin
India started assembling disaster-management teams and evacuating people in the low-lying areas of two states on the eastern coast where a cyclone packing winds of 175-185 kilometers an hour is expected to make landfall this weekend.

A severe cyclone in 1999 had killed more than 15,000 people in Orissa state, which along with adjoining Andhra Pradesh will likely face the brunt of Cyclone Phailin as it is set to make the landfall Saturday.

In India, cyclones usually strike between April and June before the onset of monsoon, or from October to December, just after the rainy season ends. On an average, five cyclonic storms develop over north Indian Ocean a year. Although the frequency of cyclones in the region isn't unusual considering that as many as 80 develop over the globe a year, the death toll is often high because of population density, poverty and the lack of sufficient advance weather data. (Read More Here)

BBC: India's Orissa and Andhra Pradesh prepare for storm

India is preparing for a massive cyclone, which is sweeping through the Bay of Bengal towards the country's east coast.

Cyclone Phailin, categorised as "very severe" by weather forecasters, is expected to hit Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states on Saturday.

India's eastern coast and Bangladesh are routinely hit by cyclonic storms between April and November which cause deaths and widespread damage to property. In December 2001, cyclone Thane hit the southern state of Tamil Nadu, killing dozens of people.

'Very severe' Cyclone Phailin heads for Odisha, Andhra Pradesh at wind speed of 200 km per hour

Bhubaneswar:  Cyclonic storm "Phailin", classified as "very severe", is heading for coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at wind speeds averaging 200 km per hour and is expected to hit the states on Saturday evening. Some weathermen are describing it as potentially India's version of 'hurricane Katrina', one of the deadliest storms in US history.

Here are the latest updates

1. Experts say the wind speed is at 200 to 210 km per hour and is expected to touch 230 km per hour when the cyclone hits the coasts of Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh tomorrow.
   
2. 'It is not a super-cyclone yet but moving towards that," said the Indian Meteorological Department chief LS Rathore.
   
3. Five districts are preparing for the worst impact of the cyclone: Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh and  Ganjam, Puri, Khordha and Jagatsinghapur in Odisha.
   
4. Andhra Pradesh Minister Raghuveera Reddy said 64,000 people are being evacuated from Srikakulam, Vizag and Vizianagaram and shifted to cyclone shelters.
   
   
5. Defence Minister AK Antony has asked the Army, Navy and Air Force to be ready for emergency and relief operations. Two Air Force aircraft are at Bhubaneswar, ready to airlift disaster management teams and equipment. Others aircraft are also in stand-by.
   
   
6. Odisha's Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patra told NDTV, "We are fighting against nature. We are better prepared this time, we learnt a lot from 1999." Nearly 15,000 people died in the super-cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999.
   
7. There is heavy rainfall in parts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. People along the coasts in Odisha are also being moved to storm shelters. "The first priority will be to save people's lives, ensure food and electricity," said the Odisha minister.
   
8. Government holidays have been cancelled for the next month in both states.
   
9. Thousands of employees from the Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh, who were on strike to protest against the Centre's decision to split the state, have returned to work for now due to the cyclone emergency.
   
10. Large parts of the 13 districts of Seemandhra had been without power for six days because of the strike.

Cyclone Phailin intensifies into 'very severe' storm; high alert for Andhra Pradesh, Odisha

Bhubaneswar:  The cyclonic storm "Phailin" has been classified as "very severe" by the Met department and is heading towards coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh where it is expected to hit on Saturday evening.

Here are the 10 big developments in this story:

1. Experts say the wind speed will touch 175-185 km per hour when the cyclone hits the coast of Northern Andhra Pradesh and Southern Odisha.
   
   
2. Strong winds with a speed of upto 65 km per hour will hit both states tomorrow morning, the Met department has forecast.
   
   
3. Heavy rainfall is expected for Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on Saturday, with lots of rain forecast for Bengal the next day.
   
4. The Andhra Pradesh government says it has informed the Navy, Army and Air Force that their assistance may be required for emergency and relief operations.
   
5. Due to the cyclone alert, thousands of power sector employees from the Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh, who were on strike to protest against the Centre's decision to split the state, have decided to return to work for now.
   
   
6. Large parts of the 13 districts of Seemandhra had been without power for six days because of the strike.
   
7. Lakhs of government employees from other deparments who have been on strike have also said that they will help with any relief and rehabilitation work by temporarily returning to work if the cyclone hits.
   
8. The Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre has warned fishermen against venturing into sea.
   
9. A super-cyclone had struck 14 coastal districts of Odisha in October 1999. Nearly 10,000 people were killed as winds raging at 300 km per hour tore through the coast.
   
10. In Odisha, 14 districts are now on high alert.