A year after Phailin, another storm heads towards Odisha

Exactly a year after the very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) Phailin struck the state, another storm is heading towards the Odisha coast.

“The cyclonic circulation over Gulf of Siam and nearby region has already led to the formation of a low pressure area over Tenasserim coast and adjoining Andaman sea area. In next 24 hours, it may concentrate into a well marked low pressure and further intensify to depression in subsequent 24 hours”, said Sarat Sahu, Director, IMD (Indian Meteorological Department), Bhubaneswar.

"Our model indicate further intensification into a cyclonic storm. The low pressure area is located at around 1350 kms (kilometers) from Gopalpur and likely to impact the Andhra and Odisha coast", he added.The exact area of movement will be determined only after October 8 and 9. The state may experience heavy rainfall from October 10.If formed into a cyclonic storm, it may be christened as Hudhud, said the IMD official.

Interestingly, Phailin, the very severe cyclonic storm that hit the Odisha coast on October 12 last year was also laid as low pressure area at Tenasserim coast. The cyclone had crossed Odisha and adjoining north Andhra Pradesh coast near Gopalpur with a sustained maximum surface wind speed of 200-210 kmph (kilometers per hour) gusting to 220 kmph. The Phailin storm and flood triggered by it had affected 13.23 million people in 18 districts of Odisha. The districts included Ganjam, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Gajapati, Balasore, Bhadrak, Khurda, Cuttack, Keonjhar and Balasore. Ganjam had suffered the most. As many as 18374 villages under 2164 gram panchayats in 171 blocks were hit. The storm and floods had damaged 419,619 houses.

Phailin had also impacted the port operations at Paradip and Gopalpur.