Bhubaneswar: Cyclone Titli, which made its landfall early Thursday, uprooted trees and electric poles and damaged hutments in Ganjam and Gajapati districts but no loss of life was reported from any part of Odisha, officials said.
The very severe cyclone which made its landfall near Palasa in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, southwest of Gopalpur, between 4.30 and 5 am claimed eight lives in the neighbouring state as strong winds battered parts of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. Power supply and telephone links got disrupted and road communication snapped due to uprooted trees and electric poles due to strong winds.
In all, eight districts – Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore – have been affected by the cyclone, Special Relief Commissioner B P Sethi said.
The cyclone triggered heavy to very heavy rainfall in Ganjam, Gajapati and Puri districts, causing minor damage to power and communication. “There has been no major destruction or report of casualty from any part of Odisha so far. Some incidents like uprooting of trees and electric poles and damage to hutments were reported from Rayagada, Ganjam and Gajapati districts,” he said.
Efforts are now on to clear roads blocked by uprooted trees and to restore power supply in affected areas, he said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has instructed officials to expedite restoration efforts once the situation improves. He asked officials to provide relief materials to cyclone-affected people.
“The chief minister gave instruction to send two more teams of NDRF to Gajapati where extensive damage has been caused to roads, hutments, electric and telephone poles,” Chief Secretary A P Padhi said.
Thirteen teams of National Disaster Response Force and Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force have been deployed in affected areas along with fire brigade personnel.
“The damage is less than what we had feared,” the Chief Secretary said. He said communication to all block headquarters in Gajapati district was hit as roads were blocked by uprooted trees and broken branches.
The state government moved over three lakh people Wednesday to safer places which helped avoid loss of life in the natural calamity. The evacuees are housed in 1,112 shelters where food and sanitation facilities are available, he said.
Altogether, 105 pregnant women in Ganjam district and 18 in Jagatsinghpur have been shifted to hospitals, Sethi said.
In Ganjam, reports of damage to hutments and other structures and uprooting of trees were received from some areas, the special relief commissioner said.
Odisha’s water resources secretary P K Jena said the flood situation is not alarming anywhere in the state.
Water level of the Rusikulya and Bansadhara rivers are being monitored, he said.
Balasore received very heavy rainfall of 117 mm and Paradip recorded 111 mm of rainfall, he said.
Storm impact
System heading for Bengal
According to a report by the IMD, Cyclone ‘Titli’ made landfall near Palasa with an estimated maximum sustained surface wind speed of 140-150 kmph gusting to 165 kmph. The system is now moving northeastwards towards Gangetic West Bengal after crossing parts of Rayagada and Kandhamal before weakening gradually, it said. It is likely to move northwestwards and then re-curve northeastwards towards Gangetic West Bengal. It is likely to weaken gradually and become a deep depression by mid-night by Friday morning. An hour after the landfall, Gopalpur reported surface wind at 126 kmph, Kalingapatanam in Andhra Pradesh recorded a wind speed of 56 kmph. Director of Meteorological Centre Bhubaneswar H R Biswas said the “very severe cyclonic storm” is being monitored by the coastal Doppler Weather Radars at Visakhapatnam, Gopalpur and Paradip.
Trains disrupted
Train services between Khurda Road in Odisha and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh remained suspended since 10 pm Wednesday, East Coast Railway sources said. “We are optimistic about restoration of train services on the route by Thursday evening, said East Coast Railway Chief PRO JP Mishra. Meanwhile, Howrah-Hyderabad Falaknumah Express, Coromandel Express, Howrah Mail and Nagarkoil Gurudev Express have resumed services. Damage was caused to railway station buildings at a few places, including Palasa, while signal poles and overhead electric masts were damaged at some places between Palasa and Kottabomali stations, he said adding steps were being taken to clear the railway tracks.
Havoc in Andhra
Visakhapatnam: Eight people were killed in severe cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ which wreaked havoc in north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha Thursday morning when it made landfall between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha early Thursday, uprooted trees, electricity poles and communication towers and also damaged crops.
Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram districts were affected by the cyclone, which hit the coast near Palasa in Srikakulam district, 35-km from Gajapati district of Odisha. Srikakulam district bore the brunt as the strong winds uprooted a large number of coconut trees.
Officials from Andhra Pradesh said five deaths were reported from Srikakulam district while three persons were killed in neighbouring Vizianagaram district. Six fishermen were among the dead.
Parts of the two districts received heavy rainfall triggered by the cyclone. Uprooted trees disrupted the vehicular traffic. The APSRTC state-owned road transport corporation suspended all bus services on the Andhra-Odisha border.
According to East Coast Railway, railway stations were damaged at several places. The station at Palasa suffered massive damage. Teams of railway officials were studying the impact of cyclone between Palasa and Brahmapur.
According to the Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, Titli crossed between North Andhra and South Odisha coast near Palasa with wind speed of 140-150 km per hour.
Local cautionary signal No.3 kept hoisted at Kalingapatnam port but the warning was withdrawn from Bheemunipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram and other ports.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the cyclone situation at a meeting with top officials in Vijayawada. He directed officials to launch relief operations and closely monitor the situation.
