A cyclone packing winds up to 155 mph zeroed in on the south Indian coast Tuesday night, and authorites evacuated 100,000 families from a low-lying plain. Live electrical wires knocked down by winds preceeding the storm killed three people in the southern city of Madras, Indian news reports said. A building collapse injured eight others in the city, which is about 1,050 miles south of New Delhi. Waves 20 feet above normal crashed against parts of India's southeastern coast Tuesday night as the storm approached. Weather officials said the cyclone appeared to be stronger than a 1977 storm that killed thousands in southern India. Press Trust of India reported that 2,000 people had been evacuated from Madras. Weather officials said the core of the storm was 87 miles east of Madras over the Bay of Bengal and would cross into India by early Wednesday. A heavily populated, low-lying coastal plain in Andhra Pradesh state, just north of Tamil Nadu state, was expected to take the brunt of the storm. Authorities evacuated more than 100,000 families from the area and placed them in 300 camps inland, news reports said. Meteorologists said they expected ``very heavy damage to houses and installations and disruption of communications,'' Press Trust of India said. Andhra Pradesh's chief minister, M. Chenna Reddy, said army and navy helicopters and boats had been prepared for rescue operations. Heavy winds and rain were reported in several townships along the coastal plain, he said. One town, Kota, had seven inches of rain in the past 24 hours. Cyclones are the Indian Ocean's equivalent of hurricanes. They usually come in the spring just before the monsoon season begins.
