A big tornado appeared at Chilika Lake in Odisha on Friday, stunning tourists who were walking by the lake and making them run for safety.
The tornado formed near the Goddess Kalijai Temple while many people were visiting.
Many people made videos of the tornado on their phones. Locals call these tornadoes "Hathisundha" because they look like an elephant's trunk. After a short time, the tornado slowly disappeared.
Videos of the event quickly spread online. Similar tornadoes were seen at Chilika Lake in 2018 and 2019, but this one was bigger and more noticeable.
Meteorologist Vishwajeet Sahu said that such tornadoes usually happen in coastal areas of the United States and Canada, and they are very rare in India. However, they can sometimes form near the Bay of Bengal.
Waterspouts, like this tornado, happen when warm, moist air rises and meets cold, dry air, causing the air to spin and create a tornado-like shape. A quick change in air pressure created a spinning column of air in the lake, which rose into the sky for a few minutes.
Largest wintering ground for migratory waterbirds
The vast and dream like Chilika Lagoon is the largest brackish Water Lagoon with estuarine character that sprawls along the east coast. It is the largest wintering ground for migratory waterbirds found anywhere on the Indian sub-continent. It is one of the hotspot of biodiversity in the country, and some rare, vulnerable and endangered species inhabit the lake.
Chilika is an integral part of the culture of coastal Odisha. Chilika supports some of the largest congregation of migratory birds in the country, particularly during the winter. Flocks of migratory waterfowl arrive from as far as the Caspian Sea, Lake Baikal, Aral Sea, remote parts of Russia, Mongolia, Central and South East Asia, Ladakh and the Himalayas, to feed and breed in its fertile waters. \