Beach clearing in Eastern India as cyclone approaches

A tropical storm weakened after dumping heavy rains overnight in parts of southern India off the Bay of Bengal, officials said on Saturday. Rescue workers ran awareness campaigns and they were asking people to evacuate from coastal areas in West Bengal state when rainfall and wind speed picked up.

The storm is likely to further weaken later Saturday and curve toward eastern Odisha state before making landfall on Sunday as a deep depression, the Indian Meteorological Department said. Scientists say cyclones and powerful storms in the Indian Ocean are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.