The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration has made plans to evacuate residents from low-lying areas and the Army has also put its ships and relief teams on standby as the archipelago experienced heavy rain and strong winds due to Cyclone Asani.

LEARNING FROM HOME/ WITHOUT CLASSES/BASICS

The India Meteorological Department (IMD)  issues colour codes   to indicate various categories of alerts. Here is what each alert means:

Green (All is well): No advisory is issued

Yellow (Be aware): Severely bad weather is possible over the next few days, plan ahead thinking about possible travel delays and disruption of day-to-day activities possible. It indicates the weather may change or worsen in the next few days.

Amber (Be prepared): There is an increased likelihood of extremely bad weather, which could potentially cause travel delays, road and rail closures, and interruption of power supply. There could be risk to life and property. Amber means people need to be prepared to change plans and protect themselves, their family and community from the impacts of the severe weather based on the forecast from the Met Office.

Red (Take action): Extremely bad weather is expected. People need to take action to keep themselves and others safe. Widespread damage, travel and power disruption and risk to life are likely. People must avoid dangerous areas and follow the advice of the emergency services and local authorities.
              Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used.

The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.
The ingredients for these storms include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds. If the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to produce the violent winds, incredible waves, torrential rains, and floods associate with this phenomenon.

It is characterized by a large scale closed circulation system in the atmosphere which combines low pressure and strong winds that rotate counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.