Unprecedented back-to-back cyclones hit Arabian Sea

Yamiche Alcindor | USA TODAY

The second cyclone in a week is heading toward the Arabian Peninsula, just days after the first storm brought heavy rains, winds and flash flooding to the area.

Cyclone Megh is intensifying toward Socotra Island and could hit mainland Yemen after Cyclone Chapala, the second-strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea, dumped enormous amounts of rainfall on the arid coast roughly a week ago, according to reports from the Weather Channel.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration historical hurricane tracks database, only once before on record have a pair of cyclones tracked within 200 nautical miles of Socotra Island within the same season, the Weather Channel reports. Cyclone Twelve passed over the island on Oct. 24, 1972. Less than one month later, Cyclone Thirteen fizzled southeast of Socotra on Nov. 21.

Saturday afternoon, the center of Cyclone Megh was about 265 miles east of Socotra Island, an island about 150 miles east of the Horn of Africa in the central Arabian Sea, the Weather Channel reports.

The news agency called said Megh a "tiny cyclone" that is not forecast to be as strong as Chapala. But, Megh could gain more strength this weekend as it tracks toward the west. The storm could also lead to heavy rain, flash flooding, damaging winds, coastal flooding and dangerous surf.

Socotra Island and coastal Yemen are still reeling from Chapala, the Weather Channel reports.

Shabwa in the wake of #Chapala. Homes and vehicles lost to the mud. via @n9m3ss0uth3rn pic.twitter.com/4DpxxKjKoz — Iona Craig أيونا (@ionacraig) November 5, 2015

"Jilaa, a village of around 1,150 persons in Shabwah governorate was completely washed away," Andreas Needham, a United National High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman, said Friday.