Tropical storm slams into India, 100,000 displaced
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CHENNAI, India (AP) - A tropical storm has slammed into southern India, bringing heavy rain and a storm surge that could flood low-lying areas and displacing more than 100,000 people.
Just before the storm made landfall on Wednesday, an oil tanker with 37 crew ran aground off Chennai. One of its lifeboats capsized in the choppy waters, and one crewmember drowned, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Coast guard officers were searching for the lifeboat's six other occupants.
PTI reported one other death in India, a 46-year old man who slipped into the rough sea from a pier and drowned. Sri Lanka reported two deaths earlier from the cyclone.
The storm from the Bay of Bengal had maximum winds of 75 km per hour after landfall. A storm surge of up to 1.5 m was expected to flood low-lying coastal areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states, the India Meteorological Department said.
