Cyclone Phailin 70 km away from Gopalpur; 550,000 evacuated

Cyclone Phailin to hit Andhra, Odisha coast between 6 to 8 pm. The storm may affect around 1.2 crore people

The very severe cyclonic storm, Phailin, has come closer to the Odisha coast and is centered around 70 km southeast of Gopalpur, MET department has said

"It would move northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts between Kalingapatnam and Paradip, close to Gopalpur (Odisha) by the evening of today," the MeT office bulletin said.

With Phailin gradually coming closer to the state's coast, sources in special relief commissioner's (SRC) office said water level along the coast was swelling.



Ahead of the landfall of Phailin, the entire state is experiencing heavy downpour and wind speed ranging around 80 kmph. Heavy to very heavy rain has been reported from the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Bhadrak and Kendrapara in coastal region.

"Squally wind speeds reaching 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph would prevail along and off Odisha coast during the next six hours. It would increase in intensity with gale speed reaching 210-220 kmph gusting to 240 kmph along and off the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Bhadrak and Kendrapara of coastal Odisha at the time of landfall," the IMD bulletin said.

The state of sea along and off Odisha coast will be high and will become gradually phenomenal. Storm surge with a height of 3 to 3.5 meters above astronomical tide would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha during landfall, it said.

While suggesting the state government to suspend fishing operations, the IMD favoured total suspension of rail and road traffic in vulnerable areas.



The IMD warning said even after landfall, the system is likely to maintain the intensity of a very severe cyclonic storm for six hours and gradually weaken into a cyclonic storm in subsequent six hours while moving northwestwards across interior Odisha.

550,000 evacuated from Odisha, Andhra: NDMA

Around 550,000 people have been evacuated from the coastal areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.

 

"About 360,000 people from four districts of Odisha, and 85,000 from three districts of Andhra Pradesh have been evacuated," said NDMA vice chairman Shashidhar Reddy.

"On the whole, 12,000 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel are deployed in Odisha and 600 in Andhra Pradesh," he told reporters here.

Twenty three teams of NDRF are deployed in Odisha, whereas there are 11 teams in Andhra Pradesh, he said.

According to the NDMA vice chairman, old buildings, power and communication lines, and roads will be damaged in the cyclonic storm.

"Crops will be the worst hit due to the cyclone," Reddy said.

He also said that of all the resources available to NDMA, 40% will be used in Ganjam district in Odisha, which is likely to bear the maximum damage.