Southern India has been hit by a powerful cyclone. The cyclone - '03B' - tore into the southeastern coast of India from the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday causing widespread damage and disruption.

Winds of around 62mph were recorded which was enough to uproot trees and damage buildings. Along with the wind, there was also torrential rain which triggered flooding.

At Machilipatnam, just inland from the coast, 151mm of rain was recorded in the space of just twelve hours. The average December monthly rainfall in this area is just 26mm.

The storm was well forecast, having developed in the Bay of Bengal four days ago and it followed more or less the forecast track. The storm made landfall at around 1400 GMT on Monday near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.

Despite early warnings and the evacuation of around 20,000 people from their homes, the storm still left a trail of destruction and there are reports that eleven people lost their lives as a result.

The damage sustained from this storm was thankfully not as extensive or devastating as that from a 1999 storm - thought to be the worst in India's history - which killed more than 10,000 people and 400,000 cattle in Orissa state.

In other news from around the world - southern Australia has been hit by another heatwave. In Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, the temperature soared to 38C on Monday which is well above the seasonal average of 27C.

Meanwhile, prayers for rain have been partly answered in Saudi Arabia. The far north of the country played host to some thunderstorms on Monday with Turaif receiving 12mm of rain in just six hours. Although this does not sound like a great deal, it is fairly significant given that the monthly average here is just 0.5mm.

Weather News from the last five days:
15/12/2003
14/12/2003
13/12/2003
12/12/2003
11/12/2003

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