Gap Theory of Eng

gapThe images showed the storm covering an area roughly half the size of India. Some forecasters likened its size and intensity to that of hurricane Katrina, which devastated the U.S. Gulf coast and New Orleans in 2005.

Some 260,000 people were moved to safer ground and more were expected to be evacuated by the end of the day, authorities in the two states said. Not everybody was willing to leave their homes and belongings, and some villagers on the palm-fringed Andhra Pradesh coast said they had not been told to evacuate.

"Of course I'm scared, but where will I move with my family?" asked Kuramayya, 38, a fisherman from the village of Bandharuvanipeta, close to where the hurricane is expected to make to landfall, while 3.5-metre (12-foot waves) crashed behind him. "We can't leave our boats behind."

The Indian Meteorological Department said Phailin would hit between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and the major port of Paradip in Odisha and predicted flooding from expected storm surges of about three metres (10 feet) above normal tides.

SUPER CYCLONE?

There was disagreement about the power packed by Phailin although most forecasters expected it to weaken upon reaching the coast. The Indian Meteorological Department described it as a "very severe cyclonic storm" with wind speeds of 210-220 km per hour (130-135 mph) and resisted upgrading it to a stronger "super cyclone."

But the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre predicted gusts of up to 315 kph.

London-based storm tracking service Tropical Storm Risk said Phailin was a super cyclone and placed it in the most intense Category 5 of powerful storms, evoking memories of the devastating 1999 storm when wind reaching speeds of 300 kph winds battered Odisha for 30 hours. Odisha officials agreed.

"Phailin will be no less than the 1999 super cyclone," Odisha state's Special Relief Commissioner, Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra, told Reuters. He said half a million people were expected to move to shelters in the state....