Cyclone Phailin makes landfall near Gopalpur in Odisha

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to hold a review meeting at 10:30 am on Sunday

Cyclone Phailin has hit land near Gopalpur in Odisha with a windspeed of around 200kmph, director general of IMD LS Rathore has confirmed.

Authorities in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha had earlier evacuated over 5 lakh people from the path of the storm, said to be the biggest peacetime human movement in the country in several decades.

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Emergency numbers for relief and rescue in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) website ndma.gov.in
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Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami says 5.25 lakh people have been evacuated in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. 

 

"Our main focus is to avoid loss of human life. So far we have evacuated 4.25 lakh people in Odisha and 1 lakh more in Andhra Pradesh," Goswami said. 

 

Most of the evacuated people have been sheltered in 500 specially-built cyclone camps in the two states. Each cyclone shelter can accommodate up to 1,500 people while their ground floors may be used as cattle shelters.

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3 killed in Odisha
 

Three people lost their lives in Odisha after being hit by trees uprooted by gusty winds and heavy rains that lashed the state hours ahead of the arrival of 'Phailin', a very severe cyclonic storm.

 

While preliminary reports confirmed deaths of two people at Khallikote and Buguda, both in Ganjam district where Phailin is projected to inflict maximum damage, a resident of Baramunda locality in Bhubaneswar lost her life while plucking flowers. The deceased in Bhubaneswar has been identified as Jayanti Rout (42). (Jayajit Dash / BS)

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Cyclone Phailin, which is likely to be the strongest storms to hit India in 14 years, is set to make a landfall this evening in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh where authorities evacuated over three lakh people from vulnerable areas as the Army, Navy and NDRF took positions.

Cyclonic storm Phailin is currently positioned just 150 km off the coast of Gopalpur in Odisha, which is likely to be epicentre of the storm.

With a wind speed of 210-220 kmph, the tides could rise up to 3.5 meters and sea water could enter 300-600 meters in land, the IMD said.

"The cyclone, which is moving at the speed of 15 kmph is expected to hit the coast from 6 to 8 PM today and is likely to stay for six hours before moving ahead," L S Rathore, Director General of Meteorology told reporters in New Delhi.

Wind speed could reach up to 240 Kmph at a later stage, he said.

The department has also predicted extremely heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Rains will also lash parts of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, East UP and Bihar.

"Even after its landfall, the cyclone impact is likely to stay for 6-8 hours after which, it will turn into a cyclone and then into deep depression," he said.

Under impact of 'Phailin', the entire coastal region is being lashed by heavy rain today besides squally wind of above 70 kmph. Uprooting of electric poles and tree branches have been reported in various places.

The Odisha government has evacuated 2.5 lakh people from six coastal districts of the state and the operation is continuing. Of the 2.5 lakh people, one lakh people alone have been taken to safer places in Gopalpur, officials said.

The districts likely to experience tidal surge are Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara. The administration of Balasore and Bhadrak have also been put on alert, Special Relief Commissioner, Odisha, P K Mohapatra said.

"We have shifted one lakh people. They are kept at safe place and provided with all necessary provisions. The administration has to forcibly evacuate some people as they were reluctant to shift," said Ganjam Collector Krishna Kumar.

While 55,000 people have been evacuated in Jagatsinghpur district, 45,000 people were evacuated in Puri and 13,000 in Bhadrak, Mohapatra said.

Local Cautionary Signal Number Three (LC-III) has been replaced by Great Danger Signal Number Ten (GD-X) at Gopalpur and Puri Ports and Great Danger Signal Number Nine (GD-IX) at Paradip and Chandbali Ports.

In Andhra Pradesh, as many as 52,000 locals were today evacuated and 25,000 people accommodated in cyclone shelters in Srikakulam.

Yesterday, 64,000 people in the north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh were evacuated to safer places.

Vizianagaram Collector Kantilal Dande said 10,000 to 15,000 people living in vulnerable areas are being evacuated  and they are monitoring the situation on a minute-to-minute basis.

Naval and Coast Guard services have been kept on standby in case of emergency.

Army, Navy, NDRF have taken positions and ten choppers are waiting at Barackpore Air Force base to fly to affected area on notice, officials said.

IAF C17 aircraft lifted 60 tonne of load including vehicles and boats to Bhubaneshwar. The Army has also dispatched 40 personnel of medical unit, 40 personnel of rescue unit and 20 support personnel out of which 10 are officers.

The US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, has said that Phailin is expected to break the Indian Ocean intensity record set by the 1999 Cyclone in which at least 9,000 people were killed in Odisha.

In its latest bulletin, JTWC said the extremely dangerous Tropical Cyclone Phailin has maintained Category five strength for six hours, and is expected to remain a Category 5 storm until it is just a few hours from landfall on the northeast coast of India on the Bay of Bengal.

While strengthening, the storm has grown to nearly half the size of India itself.

Jeff Masters, founder of Weather Underground in Ann Arbor, Michigan, wrote in his blog that he expects that Phailin will weaken slightly before hitting the coast, due to interaction with land, and hit as a Category 4 storm with winds of 145-155 mph. The 1999 Odisha Cyclone hit land with top winds of 155 mph.