MADRAS, India
(Reuters) - A severe cyclonic storm is expected to lash the coast
of India"s southern Tamil Nadu state on Wednesday, a weather
department official said. "A very severe cyclone is currently
lying centered about 200 km (125 miles) east/south-east of Pamban,"
a spokesman at the weather office in Madras told Reuters on Tuesday.
"It is likely to move in a west north-westerly direction
and cross the coast between Nagapattinam and Tuticorin by around
tomorrow morning." Tuticorin is a port city located about
360 miles south of the state capital Madras. The spokesman said
the storm was expected to be accompanied by gales of between 88-100
miles an hour. "The storm is expected to generate a tidal
surge of 2-3 meters (yards) above normal high tide level during
the time of landfall," the official said. The storm had earlier
developed in the southern Bay of Bengal and crossed the Sri Lankan
coast near the north-eastern port of Trincomalee. State radio
in Sri Lanka said details of people affected were sketchy because
the worst hit areas were under the control of Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam rebels.
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