Cyclone Burevi sweeps across Sri Lanka

(Agencies) Sri Lanka and southern India battened down the hatches for the second time in a week yesterday ahead of the scheduled arrival of another cyclone from the Bay of Bengal.

Burevi packed gusts of up to 100 km (60 miles) an hour when it landed Wednesday late night in Sri Lanka before moving west and hitting India around 24 hours later, forecasters said.

Warning of a storm surge of a metre, and 20 cm (8 inches) of rain in places, Sri Lanka ordered a three-day closure of schools in the north and east and told fishermen to stay on land.

Sri Lanka evacuated 75,000 people from homes on the east coast before tropical cyclone Burevi, hit the island nation.

The cyclone is likely to damage coastal buildings and power lines and unleash flash floods, the island’s disaster management centre said, advising those living near its path to stay indoors.

“By this evening or night, the cyclone will hit land,” said Meteorology Department Chief Athula Karunanayake, adding that wind speeds could reach 80 to 90 kph (50 to 56 mph).

“Some areas will get more than 200 mm (8 inches) of rain.” Those evacuated, from the Trincomalee district expected to be hit the hardest, have been moved into 237 relief centres until the cyclone passes, disaster officials said.

But Anuradha Yahampath, the governor of the Eastern Province which includes Trincomalee, said some people were still resisting the evacuation effort.

“I am appealing to people to go to these camps as soon as possible,” he told local media.

“I met some of the fishermen earlier. They are aware of the situation but they are still not ready to leave their homes.” Authorities in the Northern and Eastern provinces, home to millions of people, will keep schools shut until at least Friday.

By Thursday, the cyclone’s path will carry it northwest towards the Arabian Sea, Karunanayake said.

Burevi is projected to move into southern India by early on Friday, Indian weather officials have said, but is expected to cause less damage there.

India’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said late Tuesday it had deployed 26 teams across the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“Ready for cyclone,” tweeted the NDRF director general yesterday.

The Indian Meteorological Department issued a red alert in several areas across both states and suspended fishing activity in some areas until Friday.

Last Thursday, a more powerful cyclone skirted northern Sri Lanka but hit Tamil Nadu with full force, uprooting trees and delivering 30 cm (12 inches) of rain in some areas.

But more accurate forecasting and the timely evacuation of several hundred thousand people were credited with keeping the number of people reported killed to three, a fraction of the death tolls in previous years.

Seven people were killed and some 20,000 lost their homes three years ago in Sri Lanka’s northeast following a similar cyclone during the monsoon season.

Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh depend on the monsoon for power generation as well as irrigation, but excessive downpours and storms cause casualties and destroy property almost every year.