Rain and wind lashed India's east coast on Saturday, forcing more
than 440,000 people to flee to storm shelters as one of the country's
largest cyclones closed in, threatening to cut a wide swathe of
devastation through farmland and fishing hamlets.
"The total is 4.4 lakh (440,000 evacuations) in all this," Marri
Shashidhar Reddy, vice-chairman of the National Disaster Management
Authority, told a news conference ahead of the arrival of Cyclone
Phailin.
"We will be on a war footing" when the cyclone arrives, he told reporters in the capital New Delhi.
Disaster relief workers were rushing to move people from their flimsy
shelters out of the way of the path of the cyclone due to hit the state
of Orissa and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Filling most of the Bay of Bengal, Cyclone Phailin was about 120 km offshore by 3pm on Saturday, satellite images showed, and was expected to hit land by nightfall.
It was on the verge of becoming a "super cyclone", and was expected to affect 12 million people, officials said.
"This is one of the largest evacuations undertaken in India," said Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, who estimated that more than 440,000 people had been evacuated.
But the size of the storm made extensive damage to property more likely, he told reporters in New Delhi. "Our priority is to minimise loss of life."
In Donkuru, a fishing village in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh that is expected to catch the eye of the storm, people said they hesitated to leave because they had small children, despite buses provided by the authorities to take them away.
In the first death reported before the storm made landfall, a 40-year-old woman in the state capital, Bhubaneswar, was killed when a tree uprooted by the heavy rain fell on her early on Saturday.
"The wind speed is picking up," said Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra, the state's special relief commissioner. "Some people were earlier reluctant to move. They are willing now."
Families trekked through the rain to shelters as gusts of wind snapped branches from trees. Tourists left Puri, a popular beach resort. Officials broadcast cyclone warnings through loudspeakers, radio and television.
India's eastern naval command, based in the Andhra Pradesh port of Vishakapatnam, was on alert and shelters were being stocked with rations. All leave for government employees was cancelled.
The evacuation was the third largest in India's history after 650,000 people were evacuated in Andhra Pradesh in 1990 out of the way of a powerful cyclone and 550,000 in 2009 in the same state due to flooding, Reddy said.
What's happening on Saturday
# Cancellation of a majority of flights from and to Odisha, the director of the Biju Patnaik Airport, Sarat Kumar, said.
"The weather is getting worse due to the cyclone. And for passenger safety, flights will be cancelled till the weather improves. There are almost 20 flights, out of which 15 flights have been cancelled. Permission for landing is subject to weather conditions," he said.
# Five army columns from Ranchi have been dispatched to Bhubaneshwar.
# 18 stranded Odisha fishermen at sea rescued by Coast guards
# Around 10-12 helicopters are already on standby.
# The landfall is expected at around 6pm, no change in intensity for now.
# Our teams have reached the site, rescue operations are already underway.
# 1200 NDRF personnel deployed in Odisha, 600 in Andhra Pradesh
The Indian Meteorological Department warned that Phailin was a "very severe cyclonic storm" that was expected to hit with maximum sustained winds of 210-220 kilometers (130-135 miles) per hour.
In its latest bulletin on the Cyclone, issued at 1pm on Saturday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a 'Red Message' warning for North Andhra Pradesh and Odisha Coast about the 'very severe cyclonic storm Phailin' which is now over westcentral and adjoining eastcentral Bay of Bengal.
Trains cancelled, diverted
The Railways have cancelled all trains between Howrah and Visakhapatnam as a precautionary measure.
While it had announced to cancel some passenger trains yesterday, Railways decided to suspend movement of all trains today in view of the cyclone.
"All trains between Howrah and Visakhapatnam will remain suspended today and are also likely to remain suspended on Sunday," a senior East Coast Railway official said.
The trains which have been cancelled include Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam Intercity Express, Bhubaneswar- Tirupathy S/F Express, Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad Visakha Express, Guntur-Visakhapatnam-Guntur Simhadri Express, Howrah- Bhubaneswar Janshatabdi Express, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express and Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.
Here are a few highlights from the IMD bulletin:
Heavy winds • Cyclone Philain currently at 200km south-east of Gopalpur. 210-220 kmph winds expected. Heavy rains soon.
• Heavy to very heavy rainfall in entire Odisha expected when cyclone makes landfall
• Cyclone likely to hit between Kalingpatnam and Paradip at Gopalpur Saturday evening between 6-8pm.
• Cyclone Phailin will remain as severe cyclonic storm for 6 hours after it hits.
• Heavy rainfall in Odisha, Andhra. Rainfall also expected in Chhattisgarh and Bihar
• At the time of crossing coast, it will remain a cyclonic storm with speeds of 240 kmph will be experienced.
• Intensity of rains and wind in Odisha will increase as the day progresses.
• Squally winds with a speed of 55-65 kmph would continue along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts during next 6 hours. • State of sea along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coast is rough will gradually become phenomenal from Saturday afternoon. • Storm surge with a height of 3-3.5 metre (above astronomical tide) would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha and Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh during landfall.
Damage expected
• Extensive damage expected to kutcha houses, some damage to old buildings.
• Large scale disruption of power and communication lines.
• Disruption of rail and road traffic due to extensive flooding.
• Potential threat from flying debris.
• Flooding of escape routes.
• Extensive damage to agricultural crops.
Additional advisory:
• Mobilise evacuation from coastal areas.
• Judicious regulation of rail and road traffic.
• People in affected areas to remain indoors during cyclone landfall.
Post landfall outlook
• Even after landfall, Phailin likely to maintain the intensity of 'very severe cyclonic storm' for 6 hours and gradually weaken into a cyclonic storm in subsequent 6 hours.
• It will then move northwestwards across interior Odisha.
• Under its influence rainfall at most places would occur over Odisha, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and south Jharkhand.
• Squally wind speed reaching 100-120kmph would also prevail for 6 hours and 60-70kmph for subsequent 6 hours over Odisha during the same period.
# Ganjam, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, would be most vulnerable to the landfall while seven other districts like Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Balasore and Bhadrak might be severely affected.
# The government announced cyclone warnings through loudspeakers, radio and television asking people in low lying areas to move to safer places.
# The beach in Gopalpur had a deserted look with the rough sea sending high waves to the shore due to strong wind. Heavy raining was also reported in all the affected districts. Some trees were uprooted in places including Bhubaneswar, officials said.
# Most labourers working in the Paradip Port have left the town with the authorities closing all shipping operations. “I wanted to go back but I have no money. I do not know what to do,” Dinga Ram, a labourer from Jharkhand said.
# Satellite images of the storm showed its spinning tails reaching nearly 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the east coast of India to the west coast of Myanmar, an area roughly the size of France.
Officials have been stockpiling emergency food supplies, and setting up shelters for people expected to flee the heavy winds and rains. The Indian air force said four transport planes and 18 helicopters were being kept ready for relief operations in the region.
Weather forecasters had been predicting waves up to 2 meters (7 feet), but warned that the storm has been gaining strength and its impact could be severe.
The Odisha and Andhra Pradesh governments stepped up their efforts to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in their coastal districts as cyclone Phailin (meaning sapphire in Thai) threatened to hit them on Saturday evening.
However, the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii forecast maximum sustained winds of 269 kilometers (167 miles) per hour with gusts up to 315 kilometers (196 miles) per hour.
US meteorologists said the storm is flirting with historic power.
"If it's not a record it's really, really close," University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy told The Associated Press.
"You really don't get storms stronger than this anywhere in the world ever. This is the top of the barrel."
To compare to killer US storms, McNoldy said Phailin is near the size of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people and caused devastating flooding in New Orleans, but Phailin also has the wind power of 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which had 165 mph (265 kph) winds at landfall in Miami.
The storm shows no sign of weakening and has an impressive eye, said Ryan Maue of the private weather firm Weather Bell. He called it a "critically dangerous situation with a rare Category 5 landfall," which he said in that region has a history of being catastrophic.
Category 5 storms have winds exceeding 155 mph.
What happened on Friday
In Odisha, more than 140,000 people were evacuated by late Friday evening as efforts were on to move 400,000 more from seven coastal districts to safety before Phailin was feared to strike.
Officials said Ganjam district, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, would be most vulnerable to the landfall while six other districts -- Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Balasore and Bhadrak – could be severely affected.
“We want zero casualties. The evacuation process will be over on Friday night itself,” said Odisha revenue minister SN Patro. He said the government had two primary tasks – to evacuate people before the cyclone hits them and to immediately reopen roads and communication networks by clearing uprooted trees afterwards with the help of state and central disaster relief forces to enable smooth supply of essential commodities.
Personnel of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Navy have been deployed in vital places in the affected districts. Besides the 280 multi-purpose cyclone shelters in the districts, the state government has converted about 10,000 concrete schools as temporary cyclone shelters to house evacuated people, special relief commissioner PK Mohapatra said.
The Andhra Pradesh government put all five northern coastal districts -- Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, east Godavari and west Godavari -- on high alert and placed rescue teams and monitoring mechanisms in place.
Evacuation of people in low lying areas began in Srikakulam on Friday. An estimated 64,000 people have to be evacuated and moved to safer places in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.
In all these three districts, NDRF personnel are already in position to assist the civil administration in relief and rescue operations. Expert swimmers, boats, civil supplies and medicines have been moved to these locations.
Residents shop, stock essential items
Puri residents are sure their town would be spared the fury of cyclone Phailin when it is feared to make a landfall some time on Saturday evening.
Their belief in divine intervention stems from the 1999 super cyclone that spared the temple town while ravaging its adjoining areas.
Other areas in coastal Odisha, however, have no such hope even as they continuously pray to Goddess Durga, the presiding deity of the ongoing Navratra festival.
Even while doing so, they continue to shop and stock essential items.
“In 1999, we starved for days as there was no food. This time I want to stock food for at least seven days,” said Nirakar Dasmohapatra of Ganjam district, which is among the most vulnerable.
Dry food, candles, match boxes and soaps went off the shelf in coastal districts of Odisha as well as state capital Bhubaneswar. So did potatoes, tomatoes and onion, even as chief minister Naveen Patnaik warned of “strict action against hoarders”.
Supply department officials seized several bags of potatoes in Nayagarh district while 300 bags of wheat were seized from a place in Ganjam district.
But traders made a killing selling vegetables at exorbitant prices and hoarding essential items. Potato prices shot up to Rs. 50 per kg and chuda (crushed rice) cost more than double at Rs. 60.
Even big malls in Bhubaneswar hiked food stuff prices. “We are ready to pay more, but there is nothing left in the market,” said Sanjay Dash in Bhubaneswar.
With inputs from HT Correspondents - Priya Ranjan Sahu (Odisha) and KV Lakshmana (Andhra Pradesh) - and Agencies
Satellite image of Cyclone Phailin approaching Odisha. (Courtesy: Indian Met Dept.)
"We will be on a war footing" when the cyclone arrives, he told reporters in the capital New Delhi.
Filling most of the Bay of Bengal, Cyclone Phailin was about 120 km offshore by 3pm on Saturday, satellite images showed, and was expected to hit land by nightfall.
It was on the verge of becoming a "super cyclone", and was expected to affect 12 million people, officials said.
"This is one of the largest evacuations undertaken in India," said Shashidhar Reddy, vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, who estimated that more than 440,000 people had been evacuated.
But the size of the storm made extensive damage to property more likely, he told reporters in New Delhi. "Our priority is to minimise loss of life."
In Donkuru, a fishing village in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh that is expected to catch the eye of the storm, people said they hesitated to leave because they had small children, despite buses provided by the authorities to take them away.
In the first death reported before the storm made landfall, a 40-year-old woman in the state capital, Bhubaneswar, was killed when a tree uprooted by the heavy rain fell on her early on Saturday.
"The wind speed is picking up," said Pradeep Kumar Mohapatra, the state's special relief commissioner. "Some people were earlier reluctant to move. They are willing now."
Families trekked through the rain to shelters as gusts of wind snapped branches from trees. Tourists left Puri, a popular beach resort. Officials broadcast cyclone warnings through loudspeakers, radio and television.
India's eastern naval command, based in the Andhra Pradesh port of Vishakapatnam, was on alert and shelters were being stocked with rations. All leave for government employees was cancelled.
The evacuation was the third largest in India's history after 650,000 people were evacuated in Andhra Pradesh in 1990 out of the way of a powerful cyclone and 550,000 in 2009 in the same state due to flooding, Reddy said.
What's happening on Saturday
# Cancellation of a majority of flights from and to Odisha, the director of the Biju Patnaik Airport, Sarat Kumar, said.
"The weather is getting worse due to the cyclone. And for passenger safety, flights will be cancelled till the weather improves. There are almost 20 flights, out of which 15 flights have been cancelled. Permission for landing is subject to weather conditions," he said.
# Five army columns from Ranchi have been dispatched to Bhubaneshwar.
# 18 stranded Odisha fishermen at sea rescued by Coast guards
# Around 10-12 helicopters are already on standby.
# The landfall is expected at around 6pm, no change in intensity for now.
# Our teams have reached the site, rescue operations are already underway.
# 1200 NDRF personnel deployed in Odisha, 600 in Andhra Pradesh
The Indian Meteorological Department warned that Phailin was a "very severe cyclonic storm" that was expected to hit with maximum sustained winds of 210-220 kilometers (130-135 miles) per hour.
In its latest bulletin on the Cyclone, issued at 1pm on Saturday, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a 'Red Message' warning for North Andhra Pradesh and Odisha Coast about the 'very severe cyclonic storm Phailin' which is now over westcentral and adjoining eastcentral Bay of Bengal.
Trains cancelled, diverted
The Railways have cancelled all trains between Howrah and Visakhapatnam as a precautionary measure.
While it had announced to cancel some passenger trains yesterday, Railways decided to suspend movement of all trains today in view of the cyclone.
"All trains between Howrah and Visakhapatnam will remain suspended today and are also likely to remain suspended on Sunday," a senior East Coast Railway official said.
The trains which have been cancelled include Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam Intercity Express, Bhubaneswar- Tirupathy S/F Express, Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad Visakha Express, Guntur-Visakhapatnam-Guntur Simhadri Express, Howrah- Bhubaneswar Janshatabdi Express, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express and Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.
Here are a few highlights from the IMD bulletin:
Heavy winds • Cyclone Philain currently at 200km south-east of Gopalpur. 210-220 kmph winds expected. Heavy rains soon.
• Heavy to very heavy rainfall in entire Odisha expected when cyclone makes landfall
• Cyclone likely to hit between Kalingpatnam and Paradip at Gopalpur Saturday evening between 6-8pm.
• Cyclone Phailin will remain as severe cyclonic storm for 6 hours after it hits.
• Heavy rainfall in Odisha, Andhra. Rainfall also expected in Chhattisgarh and Bihar
• At the time of crossing coast, it will remain a cyclonic storm with speeds of 240 kmph will be experienced.
• Intensity of rains and wind in Odisha will increase as the day progresses.
• Squally winds with a speed of 55-65 kmph would continue along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts during next 6 hours. • State of sea along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coast is rough will gradually become phenomenal from Saturday afternoon. • Storm surge with a height of 3-3.5 metre (above astronomical tide) would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha and Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh during landfall.
Damage expected
• Extensive damage expected to kutcha houses, some damage to old buildings.
• Large scale disruption of power and communication lines.
• Disruption of rail and road traffic due to extensive flooding.
• Potential threat from flying debris.
• Flooding of escape routes.
• Extensive damage to agricultural crops.
Additional advisory:
• Mobilise evacuation from coastal areas.
• Judicious regulation of rail and road traffic.
• People in affected areas to remain indoors during cyclone landfall.
Post landfall outlook
• Even after landfall, Phailin likely to maintain the intensity of 'very severe cyclonic storm' for 6 hours and gradually weaken into a cyclonic storm in subsequent 6 hours.
• It will then move northwestwards across interior Odisha.
• Under its influence rainfall at most places would occur over Odisha, north coastal Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and south Jharkhand.
• Squally wind speed reaching 100-120kmph would also prevail for 6 hours and 60-70kmph for subsequent 6 hours over Odisha during the same period.
# Ganjam, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, would be most vulnerable to the landfall while seven other districts like Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Balasore and Bhadrak might be severely affected.
A big wave smashes into a breakwater at a fishing harbour in Jalaripeta, in Visakhapatnam. (Reuters Photo)
# The government announced cyclone warnings through loudspeakers, radio and television asking people in low lying areas to move to safer places.
# The beach in Gopalpur had a deserted look with the rough sea sending high waves to the shore due to strong wind. Heavy raining was also reported in all the affected districts. Some trees were uprooted in places including Bhubaneswar, officials said.
# Most labourers working in the Paradip Port have left the town with the authorities closing all shipping operations. “I wanted to go back but I have no money. I do not know what to do,” Dinga Ram, a labourer from Jharkhand said.
# Satellite images of the storm showed its spinning tails reaching nearly 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the east coast of India to the west coast of Myanmar, an area roughly the size of France.
Officials have been stockpiling emergency food supplies, and setting up shelters for people expected to flee the heavy winds and rains. The Indian air force said four transport planes and 18 helicopters were being kept ready for relief operations in the region.
Weather forecasters had been predicting waves up to 2 meters (7 feet), but warned that the storm has been gaining strength and its impact could be severe.
The Odisha and Andhra Pradesh governments stepped up their efforts to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people in their coastal districts as cyclone Phailin (meaning sapphire in Thai) threatened to hit them on Saturday evening.
However, the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Hawaii forecast maximum sustained winds of 269 kilometers (167 miles) per hour with gusts up to 315 kilometers (196 miles) per hour.
US meteorologists said the storm is flirting with historic power.
"If it's not a record it's really, really close," University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy told The Associated Press.
"You really don't get storms stronger than this anywhere in the world ever. This is the top of the barrel."
To compare to killer US storms, McNoldy said Phailin is near the size of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people and caused devastating flooding in New Orleans, but Phailin also has the wind power of 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which had 165 mph (265 kph) winds at landfall in Miami.
The storm shows no sign of weakening and has an impressive eye, said Ryan Maue of the private weather firm Weather Bell. He called it a "critically dangerous situation with a rare Category 5 landfall," which he said in that region has a history of being catastrophic.
Category 5 storms have winds exceeding 155 mph.
What happened on Friday
In Odisha, more than 140,000 people were evacuated by late Friday evening as efforts were on to move 400,000 more from seven coastal districts to safety before Phailin was feared to strike.
Officials said Ganjam district, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, would be most vulnerable to the landfall while six other districts -- Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Balasore and Bhadrak – could be severely affected.
“We want zero casualties. The evacuation process will be over on Friday night itself,” said Odisha revenue minister SN Patro. He said the government had two primary tasks – to evacuate people before the cyclone hits them and to immediately reopen roads and communication networks by clearing uprooted trees afterwards with the help of state and central disaster relief forces to enable smooth supply of essential commodities.
Personnel of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Navy have been deployed in vital places in the affected districts. Besides the 280 multi-purpose cyclone shelters in the districts, the state government has converted about 10,000 concrete schools as temporary cyclone shelters to house evacuated people, special relief commissioner PK Mohapatra said.
The Andhra Pradesh government put all five northern coastal districts -- Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, east Godavari and west Godavari -- on high alert and placed rescue teams and monitoring mechanisms in place.
Evacuation of people in low lying areas began in Srikakulam on Friday. An estimated 64,000 people have to be evacuated and moved to safer places in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam.
In all these three districts, NDRF personnel are already in position to assist the civil administration in relief and rescue operations. Expert swimmers, boats, civil supplies and medicines have been moved to these locations.
Residents shop, stock essential items
Puri residents are sure their town would be spared the fury of cyclone Phailin when it is feared to make a landfall some time on Saturday evening.
Their belief in divine intervention stems from the 1999 super cyclone that spared the temple town while ravaging its adjoining areas.
Other areas in coastal Odisha, however, have no such hope even as they continuously pray to Goddess Durga, the presiding deity of the ongoing Navratra festival.
Even while doing so, they continue to shop and stock essential items.
“In 1999, we starved for days as there was no food. This time I want to stock food for at least seven days,” said Nirakar Dasmohapatra of Ganjam district, which is among the most vulnerable.
Dry food, candles, match boxes and soaps went off the shelf in coastal districts of Odisha as well as state capital Bhubaneswar. So did potatoes, tomatoes and onion, even as chief minister Naveen Patnaik warned of “strict action against hoarders”.
Supply department officials seized several bags of potatoes in Nayagarh district while 300 bags of wheat were seized from a place in Ganjam district.
But traders made a killing selling vegetables at exorbitant prices and hoarding essential items. Potato prices shot up to Rs. 50 per kg and chuda (crushed rice) cost more than double at Rs. 60.
Even big malls in Bhubaneswar hiked food stuff prices. “We are ready to pay more, but there is nothing left in the market,” said Sanjay Dash in Bhubaneswar.
With inputs from HT Correspondents - Priya Ranjan Sahu (Odisha) and KV Lakshmana (Andhra Pradesh) - and Agencies
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