Cyclonic Storm Rashmi ( IMD designation: BOB 05,

JTWC The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

designation: 04B) was the seventh

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

of the

2008 North Indian Ocean cyclone season The 2008 North Indian cyclone season was one of the most disastrous tropical cyclone seasons in modern history, with tropical cyclones leaving more than 140,000 people dead and causing more than US$15 billion in damage, making it the c ...

and second cyclonic storm, as well as the fifth tropical cyclone in the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...

that year. A fairly weak tropical cyclone, it caused some notable damage in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. An area of low pressure formed within the

on October 24. It was designated as Depression BOB 05 the next day by the

India Meteorological Department The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India. It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology. IMD is headquarter ...

. The depression was declared a deep depression early on October 26, whilst the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

designated the depression as Cyclone 04B later that day with wind speeds equivalent to a tropical storm. Later that day, the IMD upgraded the deep depression into a cyclonic storm and named it as Rashmi. Rashmi then reached both its peak one- and three-minute sustained wind speeds, as it made

landfall Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...

on the

coast late on October 26. Early the next day the JTWC issued its final advisory on Rashmi as the IMD downgraded Rashmi to a deep depression. Later that day the IMD, having noted that Rashmi had weakened rapidly, downgraded the deep depression to a well marked area of low pressure and released their final advisory. The name Rashmi was submitted by

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, to the

World Meteorological Organisation The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Internatio ...

's Tropical Cyclone Committee. Rashmi (pronounced Rush-mee) is a

Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...

word, which means "ray of light".

Meteorological history

On October 24, 2008, an area of low pressure formed in the

North Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), Australia to the east. To the so ...

, within the central

. Later that day the

, designated it as a Tropical Disturbance and assessed its chances of forming into a significant tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours as fair. The next day as the

reported that the disturbance had intensified into a depression and assigned the number BOB 05 to the depression. The

then upgraded the depression's chances of forming into a significant cyclone to Good and issued a

Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert A Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) is a bulletin released by the U.S. Navy-operated Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii or the Fleet Weather Center in Norfolk, Virginia, warning of the possibility of a tropical cyclone forming ...

on the depression. Early on October 26 the IMD upgraded the depression to a deep depression, with wind speeds of 30 knots (35 mph, 55 km/h). At the same time the JTWC designated the depression as Cyclone 04B. Later that day the IMD reported that the Deep Depression had intensified into a Cyclonic Storm with it being named as Rashmi. During that evening the IMD reported that Rashmi had reached its peak 3 minute wind speeds of 40 knots, whilst the JTWC also reported that Rashmi had reached its peak 1 minute wind speeds of 45 knots. Early the next day the IMD reported that Rashmi had made

on the

coast, near

Barisal Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Dist ...

. As a result of making landfall Rashmi started to weaken rapidly by becoming a Deep Depression, early that morning before being downgraded to a well marked area of low pressure, later during the morning.

Preparations and impact

India

Five people were killed as incessant rains accompanied by winds hit the state of

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...

. The cyclone's incessant rainfall accompanied by gusty winds had caused flash floods in three districts of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

- Kamrup, Sonitput and inundated vast tracts of land besides rendering people homeless. The flash floods occurred as neighbouring

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

and

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

released excess waters from their reservoirs due to increased water levels caused by incessant rains for the last two days by cyclone Rashmi

Bangladesh

The Disaster Management Information Centre in Bangladesh issued cyclone warnings for various ports in Bangladesh including the

Port of Mongla The Port of Mongla is a link sea port, located at Mongla Upazila, Khulna Division, Bangladesh.It is a sea port of Khulna city which is located near to the north. It is the second largest and second busiest seaport of Bangladesh. Mongla port lies ...

. As a result of these cyclone warnings, harbour activities were suspended for two days. 15 people were killed and thousands of homes were also damaged. Rashmi brought down electrical and telephone poles and uprooted trees; large areas of acres of crops were also destroyed. At least 50 fishermen were reported missing when about 15 fishing trawlers capsized offshore.

References

External links