Bhubaneswar:The cyclonic storm changed its direction after hitting the coastal areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and moved north towards Jharkhand, leaving little impact on Chhattisgarh, which was earlier expected to experience its impact. But along with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and eastern UP, the state was put on alert.
Andhra Pradesh, which was also expected to be hit by the cyclone, mostly escaped its fury.
“There are 13 deaths in Orissa and one in Andhra Pradesh. So we have been able to keep the death toll to a bare minimum,” said vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority Marri Shashidhar Reddy.
Odisha special relief commissioner Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said electricity and water supplies will be restored everywhere by this evening, except in the worst-hit Ganjam district, where most of damaged electricity towers are located.
The state government said crops over 5 lakh hectares of farmland were damaged, while 9 lakh trees were uprooted across seven coastal districts, with Ganjam district again the worst sufferer.
Impact of Cyclone Phailin
Bhubaneswar: Phailin, a very severe cyclonic storm on Saturday struck the Odisha coast, bringing in its wake torrential rains and wind speeds of over 200 kmph in the state and in the neighbouring north coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Updates:
In many parts of Odisha witnessed uprooted high tension towers and signals, damaged platforms and tracks blocked by trees due to high-velocity winds of Cyclone Phailin in , East Coast Railways on Sunday said no trains were moving in Bhadrak-Khurda Road-Palasa-Vizianagaram sections.
About 198cm rainfall has been recorded in Ichapuram, Srikakulam district .
A cargo ship, MV Bingo is believed to have sunk in the rough seas caused by cyclonic storm Phailin with its crew on a lifeboat last sighted east of Sagar in West Bengal, a top Kolkata Port Trust official said.About 18 fishermen stranded off the Paradip coast rescued
While the Met dept IMD has said that the cyclonic storm will continue till late evening and the current wind speed 100-110 kmph.
According to the IMD, the North Coastal region has been witnessing heavy rainfall and for the next 48 hours, till the evening of October 13, coastal districts and North Telangana will witness heavy rainfall. The cyclone will start weakening from Sunday evening as the weather system will move northwards towards Bihar during the next 24 to 48 hours. Extensive damage in Ganjam & Puri
Over 10,000 jawans deployed on rescue works and 7,25,000 people evacuated so fa. No casualties reported so far due to cyclone Phailin, says National Disaster Response Force Chief Krishna Chowdhary.Communication lines down in several parts of Odisha
