Strong winds in Atlantic create high waves off Indian coasts over 10K km away

Strong winds in the Atlantic Ocean, more than 10,000 kms from the Indian coasts, have given rise to high energy waves in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal prompting the government to issue alerts for several states over last one week.

Though, these high energy waves, which may rise up to 2-3 metres and are perilous, experts say, because of their capacity to breach the coast, did not cause any death, property and houses were destroyed, officials said.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), a unit of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, issued 'swells' alerts to states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, besides Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Lakshadweep archipelago.

Alerts were also issued to the coasts of Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, officials said.

In southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, relief camps were set up for people who left their dwellings fearing these waves could crash against their houses.

In Kerala, government officials said 394 houses have been partially damaged due to high waves and sea erosion. The maximum damage was caused in Thiruvananthapuram.

State government sources say nine relief camps have been set up in the state in which 578 people from coastal areas have been shifted.

In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, officials said six relief camps were operating at Kanyakumari which have now been scaled down to three. Also the one set up in Tuticorin district has been shut, indicating the danger has subsided.

Asked as to what birthed these high energy waves hitting states on eastern, western and southern coasts of India, the INCOIS director SSC Shenoi said, "These waves travelled thousands of miles from the South Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean and entered the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. These high period waves can travel long distances and become more strong as the reach the coast."
But are such high waves hitting so many Indian states at around same time a unusual phenomenon?
Talking about India's ability to forecast such phenomenon, Shenoi said, "Earlier, we were not in a position to make forecasts but now we have models in place to identify this phenomenon anywhere in the high seas."