Watch: Several villages in Telangana witness a ‘twister’

No major damage was reported besides a few fallen electric poles and trees being uprooted.
Twister
Twister
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Residents in several villages around Nemali Kaluva and Nagaram in Valigonda in Telangana’s Yadadri district were pleasantly surprised to see a ‘twister’ on Friday evening. Videos showed a swirling column of wind and water amid agricultural fields.  

While some villers panicked on seeing the swirling columns of dust, spiraling into the sky, other excited villagers immediately took out their phones and filmed the weather phenomenon. Soon, the videos were viral on social media. 

Although officials in the India Meteorological Department said they had no information on the phenomenon, weather bloggers called it a waterspout. “A waterspout is a column of rotating, cloud-filled wind. A waterspout descends from a cumulus cloud to an ocean or a lake. Waterspouts are similar to tornadoes but are usually smaller and less intense,” according to National Geographic.  

Srikanth, a weather blogger who handles the Chennai Rains Twitter handle, said, “It looks like it is connected to the clouds, which is indicative of a waterspout. Normally tornadoes are rare in India especially during monsoon. They are seen during the pre-monsoon season in East India and Bangladesh.”

Rajanikanth Poolla, another weather analyst, who is based out of Vizag, explained the difference between a tornado and a waterspout. He said, “It is not very clear from the angle of the video, but it appears to be a waterspout. It is basically a similar phenomenon, only the name is different. While a tornado often moves over longer distances, watersprouts are more static and move only a shorter distance. Waterspouts mostly remain only above water.”

Apart from a few trees that were uprooted, no major damage was reported. In Lingarajupally, few electric poles fell due to the intensity of the waterspout.

Last month, a similar sight was witnessed at Yanam in Puducherry. It was also accompanied by strong winds and heavy rains that lashed the region. Makeshift structures and steel roofs had collapsed in the area, back then.

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