India's disaster management agency advises people to stay away from coasts over surging waves

NEW DELHI, April 20 (Xinhua) -- India's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued an advisory urging people to stay away from coasts in wake of the possibility of surging of waves, officials said Friday.

"As per the latest multi-model based operational wave forecasting system at INCOIS, Hyderabad, there is a strong indication that high energy swell waves with heights between two to three meter and periods between 17 to 22 seconds are likely to be experienced in the seas around the country," reads an advisory issued NDMA.

According to NDMA officials, the higher waves will be first experienced along the west coast of India and Lakshadweep by morning hours on Saturday and subsequently the Bay of Bengal by Sunday. In the Bay of Bengal, the high swell waves regime is likely to continue and decrease around Tuesday. The NDMA said the low lying coast of Kerala and West Bengal are particularly vulnerable.

The alert has been sounded along west coast of India, Lakshadweep, south Tamil Nadu, Bay of Bengal, and Kerala.

Officials said the areas are likely to experience high energy swell waves from Saturday and Sunday.

"It has advised people to stay away from coasts and do not indulge in water based recreational activity during the period," a NDMA official said. "The boats may be anchored at a fair distance from each other to avoid collision and damage."

The officials said heavy rain is likely to hit at isolated places over south interior Karnataka and north interior Tamil Nadu. Enditem