Tropical Cyclone Hudhud is strengthening as it churns over the Bay of Bengal in the northern Indian Ocean basin and millions of people in India are in its path.
As of 6 p.m. EDT Saturday, Hudhud was located about 110 miles southeast of Visakhapatnam, India and exhibited maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, making it the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.
Hudhud is now moving west-northwest and additional strengthening is expected. Hudhud is in a favorable environment for strengthening and the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecasts it to become the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane just before it makes landfall along the east-central coast of India in eastern Andhra Pradesh or Odisha (Orissa) states midday Sunday, local time. (Eastern India is 9.5 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Daylight Time).
(MORE: Expert Analysis | Hurricane Central)
Evacuations are being carried out ahead of Hudhud and on Saturday, the Times of India reported that a nine-year-old girl was killed and an 11-year-old boy was reported missing, after a boat evacuating people from a seaside village capsized.
Hudhud, also known by its alphanumeric designation 03B, formed in the evening hours Tuesday (U.S. time) near the Andaman Islands, about 400 miles southwest of Yangon, Myanmar. The developing cyclone dumped torrential rainfall on those islands, with Port Blair reporting 248 millimeters (9.76 inches) in the 48-hour period ending at 0300 GMT Wednesday (11 p.m. EDT Tuesday).
(INTERACTIVE: Hudhud Satellite Loop)
(MORE: India Braces For Impacts)
Near the center of the projected path of Tropical Cyclone Hudhud is the port city of Visakhapatnam, the third largest city on India's Bay of Bengal coast with a population of over 2 million.
(INTERACTIVE: Hudhud Forecast Path)
The India Meteorological Department warns of wind gusts up to 120 mph at landfall. However, the primary threat is storm surge flooding, which is expected to be three to seven feet above astronomical high tide in low lying areas of north coastal Andhra Pradesh, with locally up to 10 feet possible. Torrential rain with over 10 inches in some spots, generally along and to the northeast of the path of Hudhud, will trigger dangerous flash flooding.
Below is a forecast model rainfall map over the next five days, depicting the general area of rainfall flood threat.
It was exactly a year ago that Cyclone Phailin moved over roughly the same stretch of water, making landfall in India's Odisha state on Oct. 12. The storm claimed 44 lives, but was considered an overwhelming success in India's attempts to implement emergency preparedness plans. Over one million people were evacuated ahead of the storm, and the death toll was far smaller than that of a similar tropical cyclone in 1999, which claimed some 10,000 lives.
