Thiruvananthapuram, Aug. 15: Fishermen out in the deep seas off the Kollam coast on Sunday afternoon were terrified after darkness spread suddenly and columns of water rose up from the surface.
There were around 1,000 fishing boats in the sea when the phenomenon which meteorologists term ‘waterspouts’ occurred in the waters spreading from Kollam to Alapuzha.
Caught in the enveloping darkness and surrounded by funnels of rising water, the fisherfolk were suddenly bewildered on which direction to turn. Waves 18-feet high also started surging up, rocking their boats.
On getting alerts about the occurrence of waterspouts, coast guard vessels sped to the deep sea. Lighthouses across the coast started beaming signals to give directions to the stranded fishermen, hundreds of whom are yet to return.
The director of the Indian Meteorological Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr K. Santhosh, said waterspouts could turn out to be dangerous for fishing boats caught near them.
“Waterspouts form when warm air rises from near the surface of the water during times of high humidity and atmospheric instability,” he said.
“The cloud it forms can rise up to 10 km which then generates a strong updraft sucking up water and particles from the sea.”
Mr Santhosh added that the cylindrical shaped columns on the sea could go up heights of 30 metres.
“They can be terrifying,” he said. “They sometimes suck up water and can even suck up small boats and people. The clouds block the sun and spread darkness.”
However, the IMD official added that not all waterspouts could be linked to cyclonic storms.
A fisherman, Ambujakshan, died off the Kollam coast after his boat was damaged and a seven-year-old boy playing near the sea at Poonthura went missing.