HYDERABAD, India (AP) – A tropical storm weakened after dumping heavy rains overnight off the Bay of Bengal in southern India as more than 50,000 people were evacuated to government-run camps, authorities said. Saturday.
So far no casualties or significant material damage has been reported in rain-stricken areas in Andhra Pradesh state.
Kanna Babu, head of disaster management in the state, said the 54,000 people who were evicted from vulnerable areas on Friday were waiting in about 200 camps set up by the authorities for the weather to improve to return.
Authorities closed schools, canceled trains and ordered the fleet to remain moored to port in the affected areas until Sunday.
The storm could continue to lose strength on Saturday and turn toward the eastern state of Odisha before making landfall on Sunday in a depression, the Indian Meteorological Department said.
Scientists argue that cyclones and powerful storms are becoming more frequent and intense in the Indian Ocean due to climate change.
“The Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea are now warmer compared to a few decades ago because of climate change,” said KJ Ramesh, one of the country’s leading meteorologists and former director of the agency.
In addition, the simultaneous formation of storms registered in the last decade – and that was an unusual phenomenon in the past – is also due to climate change, he added.
In May, two storms hit India within 10 days, and Cyclone Tauktae killed at least 140 people in the west. Nearly 70 of the deceased were on a barge that came loose from its anchorages and sank off the coast of Mumbai.
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The Associated Press science journalist Aniruddha Ghosal contributed to this report from New Delhi.
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