APCEDI ALERT Sri Lanka-BOBW, Cyclone Fanoos (06B/TD 2), #9, 2006: Cyclone Fanoos Crosses the Tamil Nadu Coast near Vedaranyam

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and the Sri Lanka and India Departments of Meteorology are continuing to provide guidance on Cyclone Fanoos (06B/TD2), which has just crossed the Tamil Nadu Coast.

Cyclone Fanoos crossed the Tamil Nadu Coast near Vedaranyam around 11:00 AM local time (IST). Fanoos is tracking slowly west at 4 kt. The center of the storm is now just to the west of Vedaranyam. Heavy rain bands continue over much of the Central Tamil Nadu Coast and the Jaffna Peninsula. Lighter rain bands extend south and north along the Tamil Nadu Coast up to the Andhra Pradesh Border. Lighter rain bands are also over parts of Sri Lanka south of the Jaffna Peninsula.

The JTWC has issued 10 cyclone alerts for this system. This continues to be a serious situation for Tamil Nadu State, especially central and northern coastal areas, and for Northern Sri Lanka, especially the Jaffna Peninsula. Both countries are continuing to warn all maritime and fishing interests in affected areas to stay in port. While Fanoos will continue to weaken rapidly now that is it over land, very heavy rain will continue over much of the area for another 12-24 hours. Rainfall will be exacerbated by the slow movement of the storm.

No major damage reports have yet been received from these areas as the storm is still continuing, although some power outages are being reported from the Jaffna Peninsula and along the Central Tamil Nadu Coast. It is likely that there are areas of widespread minor to moderate to locally severe damage on the Jaffna Peninsula and adjacent areas of Northern Sri Lanka. Tsunami refugees in these areas, many still in temporary shelters, could be particularly badly affected.

Given the heavy flooding in Tamil Nadu from Cyclone Baaz, and the saturation of soils throughout much of Southeast India and Sri Lanka from subsequent tropical waves, Cyclone Fanoos still has the potential to cause widespread severe to localised devastating flooding across the area in and around where it comes ashore including areas of Northern Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu State. This includes storm surge flooding, continued flooding of large area rivers and flash-flooding in hill areas.

While it looks like the main areas of heavy rain will continue to the south of Chennai, the state capital's 2 main rivers, the Adyar and Cooum, continue at or near flood stage in many areas throughout the city and in rural areas. Thus any additional heavy rain in and around Chennai has the potential to make the situation much worse.

More details on the news of the flooding in Tamil Nadu can be found in The Hindu. More news on the situation in Sri Lanka can be found in The Lanka Academic.

Authorities, aid workers and residents, especially in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka and in Tamil Nadu and Southern Andhra Pradesh should continue to maintain extreme vigilance with this system, especially from the threats associated with flooding. Government and aid workers (including all AFAP, NSRC, RRI and other affiliated aid workers) along the Sri Lankan coast and in flood prone areas, should continue to carefully monitor this system and be prepared to assist communities in which they are working should the situation warrant and the Government of Sri Lanka issue any flood or storm warnings.


FROM JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER
http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc.html

100900Z POSITION NEAR 10.5N 80.0E.
TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 06B (FANOOS), LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 155 NM SOUTH OF MADRAS, INDIA, HAS TRACKED WESTWARD AT 04 KNOTS OVER THE PAST 06 HOURS. TC 06B WILL CONTINUE ITS WESTERLY TRACK UNDER THE SOUTHWESTERN PERIPHERY OF THE LOW TO MID LEVEL STEERING RIDGE LOCATED OVER THE NORTHERN BAY OF BENGAL. THE SYSTEM HAS ALREADY BEGUN TO DISSIPATE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AS THE SYSTEM MAKES LANDFALL IN SOUTHERN INDIA. MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 100600Z IS 11 FEET. NEXT WARNING AT 102100Z.
NNNN


SRI LANKA DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY
http://www.meteo.slt.lk/index.html

For December 10-11th.
Cyclonic storm "Fanoos", was centred about 50 km north of Jaffna at 1200 hours today (10th). It is moving slowly away towards Tamilnadu coast. However, very strong winds and showers will continue in the northern parts of the island tonight. The sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Trincomalee via Jaffna will experience very rough conditions, strong winds and intermittent rain and thundershowers. Therefore, it is requested to refrain from fishing and naval activities in the said areas.

Northern, Northwestern, Eastern and North central provinces will experience rain or thundershowers with strong winds. Cloudy and occasional rain and thundershowers with fairly strong winds are expected in the Central, Western, and Sabaragamuwa provinces.

Coastal belt from Jaffna to Kalpitiya may be inundated by sea waves generated by strong winds.

Northern, Eastern and North central provinces will experience rain or thundershowers with strong winds. Cloudy and occasional rain and thundershowers are expected in Northwestern, Central, Western, and Sabaragamuwa provinces.

Winds will be Northwesterly or Variable and the speed will be 40-80 km/h gusting up to 100 km/h in the northern areas.


INDIAN DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY
http://www.imd.gov.in/

No. BOB/12/2005/34 Dated : 10th December, 2005
Subject : Deep depression over Tamilnadu coast

The deep depression over southwest Bay of Bengal crossed north Tamilnadu coast near Vedaranyam this morning around 1100 hrs. IST and has further weakened into a depression which lies centered at 1130 hrs. IST over land close to Vedaranyam. It is likely to move in a westerly direction and weaken further.

Under its influence fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls are likely over Tamilnadu during next 24 hours.

State of sea will be rough to very rough along and off Tamilnadu coast during the next 12 hours. Fishermen along the above coast are advised not to venture into the sea for another 12 hours.

Next bulletin will be issued around 2100 hrs. IST.

HEAVY RAINFALL WARNING

1.) ISOLATED HEAVY TO VERY HEAVY FALLS ARE LIKELY OVER TAMIL NADU & PONDICHERRY . ISOLATED HEAVY FALLS ALSO LIKELY OVER NICOBAR ISLANDS, KERALA AND LAKSHADWEEP.

2. SQUALLY WINDS SPEED REACHING 50-60 KMPH ARE LIKELY ALONG AND OFF TAMIL NADU COAST BETWEEN TONDI AND PONDICHERRY DURING NEXT 12 HOURS. STATE OF THE SEA WILL BE ROUGH TO VERY ROUGH ALONG AND OFF TAMILNADU COAST DURING THE SAME PERIOD. FISHERMEN ALONG THE ABOVE COASTS ARE ADVISED NOT TO VENTURE INTO THE SEA DURING NEXT 12 HRS..


APCEDI will continue to monitor the progress of Cyclone Fanoos as it continues to move inland.

While APCEDI does not normally monitor cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, given AFAP's tsunami relief effort and that of many agencies in the region, APCEDI will continue to bring reports from this region, as warranted, for the next year or longer if needed.

Kevin Vang
APCEDI Coordinator
http://www.afap.org/apcedi/

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