HYDERABAD, India -- Heavy rains fell Tuesday in eastern India after the second cyclone to hit the area in a week prompted evacuations of thousands of people. Cyclone Murasu made landfall in the morning near Ongole in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh state with maximum sustained winds of 100-110 kph (62-68 mph), the India Meteorological Department said. Heavy rain was forecast for several hours as the cyclone weakened. Ahead of the storm, authorities closed schools and halted train services and some flights in the vulnerable areas.
Thousands of people were also evacuated to safety. Authorities warned the rain could cause flooding in low-lying areas and disruptions to daily life. A storm surge of up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) was possible on the coast, the IMD said. Popular Reads Learjet with 9 aboard crashes in Palm Beach County, Florida: FAA 1 day ago Sen. Chris Murphy hospitalized after suffering a stroke, chief of staff says 1 day ago 2 college students found dead after going missing while hiking, police say Oct 29 The storm formed over the Bay of Bengal, where the warm waters have spawned some of the deadliest cyclones to hit eastern India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Cyclone Arnab battered parts of Andhra Pradesh last week, killing at least five people, damaging homes and infrastructure and inundating roughly 200,000 acres of cropland.
ABC News reports Cyclone Murasu's landfall in Andhra Pradesh, the evacuations and the deaths from Cyclone Arnab a week earlier. It names the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal as the source of deadly cyclones but never tells the reader that human-caused warming is making intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe. The reader is left to see two cyclones in one week as a natural feature of the region.
Leaves out the climate link
Serious
“the warm waters have spawned some of the deadliest cyclones to hit eastern India, Bangladesh and Myanmar”
Why this matters
The words "the warm waters have spawned some of the deadliest cyclones" explain the storms by the sea's warmth alone, as a fixed feature of the Bay of Bengal. Nowhere in the article is there a word linking that warmth, or the run of storms, to climate change.
The impression it gives
A reader comes away believing that two cyclones in a week, one of which killed at least five people, are simply what this region's warm sea has always produced.
The context
Human-caused warming has made intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe. The article covers two cyclones in a week, deaths, evacuations and a storm surge warning, yet never says warming is loading the dice.
How we know
On the recordThat warming has made hot extremes, heavy rainfall, agricultural and ecological drought, fire weather and intense tropical cyclones more frequent or more severe.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
On the recordIt is unequivocal that human influence, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.ipcc.ch (opens in a new tab)
Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “climate”.
The storm formed over the Bay of Bengal, whose warm waters have spawned some of the deadliest cyclones to hit eastern India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Human-caused warming is making intense tropical cyclones like this more frequent and more severe.