A very severe cyclone 'Phailin' with a wind speed of 205 to 215 km per hour is heading towards Odisha coast. 'Phailin' formed over east central Bay of Bengal is now lay centred about 520 km south-southeast of Paradip and 530 km southeast of Gopalpur in Odisha. It will move north westwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast between Kalingapatnam and Paradip, close to Gopalpur by tomorrow evening.
The Bhubaneswar Meteorological office has issued Local Cautionary Signal Number Three at Paradip, Gopalpur ports and at Chandbali and Puri. The condition of the sea along and off the Odisha coast has become rough to very rough since this morning and it will become phenomenal tomorrow. Storm surge with height of around 2.5 to 3 meter above astronomical tide will inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha during landfall. Our correspondent reports that the people of Odisha are readying to face one of the biggest cyclones after the super-cyclone of the last decade in 1999. With the severe cyclonic storm Phailin looming large on Odisha’s coast and expected to hit the state on Saturday evening, at least 28 teams of National Disaster Response Forces have reached the state for evacuation and relief operations. Medical teams have been asked to stand by with medical teams for any situation that may arise after the cyclone.
Special Relief Commissioner PK Mohapatra has confirmed availability of defence helicopters at Barrackpore in neighbouring West Bengal and those will be ready to fly out by Sunday morning. Food packets for about one lakh people are being readied before the cyclone's landfall. The state government has made preparations to meet any eventuality, and directed collectors of 21 cyclone-prone districts to deploy relief and rescue officials at vulnerable points. People are being evacuated from low-lying areas to safer places. Round-the-clock control rooms have been activated in the district headquarter towns, including the highly cyclone-prone Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Ganjam, Puri and Kendrapada. A state-level control room set up in the Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar is coordinating with control rooms in the districts.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government held a meeting of all non-governmental organisations including United Nations, Red Cross and sought their help in tackling the situation.
Fishermen have been asked to come back from the sea and fishing has been completely banned by the government.
In Andhra Pradesh the government has taken all precautionary measures to protect life and property in view of the impending cyclone. The state government has directed District Collectors and local authorities to take every necessary action to mitigate the damage. Our correspondent reports that with round-the-clock control rooms at Hyderabad and in headquarters of coastal districts concerned,state authorities are bracing to meet any exigency during landfall of Phailin.Special officers are monitoring relief operations with a total of nine teams from the National Disaster Response Force being sent to north coastal districts, three each to Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam and one each to Vizianagaram and East and West Godavari districts.
