Strong cyclone heads for south India
A severe cyclonic storm was barrelling down a narrow strait separating India and Sri Lanka and was expected to make landfall today, the Indian navy said yesterday.
The navy tracking the cyclone named Fanus said at 5:00 pm (1130 GMT) it was swirling 300 kilometres (186 miles) off the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and was likely to hit the districts of Kullur and Nagapattanam on Saturday.
"Fanus was declared a severe cyclonic storm and it is maintaining its intensity and moving in a west-northwesterly direction and is now landlocked between Sri Lanka and peninsular India," a naval meteorologist told AFP.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The cyclone swept harmlessly past the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Andamans earlier Friday.
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