India on a war footing to face 'worst cyclone'

In Andhra Pradesh & Odisha thousands of people have fled villages and coastal areas

Saturday morning, people in coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh would wake up to the possibility of the worst natural disaster there. And, through the day, the extent of damage cyclone Phailin may unleash in the evening would keep them on tenterhooks.

In both the states, thousands of people have fled villages and coastal areas and have taking refuge in school buildings and concrete shelters. The Indian Metrological Department (IMD) has classified cyclone Phailian under “very severe” category, only second to the “super cyclone,” which causes the maximum damage.

Authorities predict that the cyclone may gather more wind speed as it progresses towards the coast. On Friday evening, it had the maximum sustained wind speed of 210-220 km per hour. Cyclones are categorized into six levels, depending on the wind speeds. Super cyclones blow at speed over 220 km per hour.

The guess work has already started to compare cyclone Phailian with cyclone Katrina, which created havoc in the US killing over 1,800 people on 28 August 2005. Around 10,000 people had lost lives when the super cyclone named Cyclone 05B hit the Orissa coast in 1999. Neelam was the last cyclone to hit India in 2012.

Cyclone Phalian is expected to lose momentum only on Sunday. Till then, it can cause extensive damage to kutcha and old buildings, disruption to power and communication lives, says an IMD bulletin.

The cyclone will also bring extensive rains to the extent of over 25 cm, resulting into extensive flooding. Rail and road traffic too be severly affected.

“Storm surge with height of around 3.0 m above astronomical tide would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odissa and Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh during landfall,” the IMD said. Heavy rains are also expected in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

On Friday, M Shashidhar Reddy, an Andhra Pradesh legislator and vice-president of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said though many teams had been deployed, people had to exercise their judgement.

He added 23 National Disaster Response Force teams, comprising 950 personnel and 80 boats, had been positioned at locations such as Khurda, Nuayagarh, Jajur, Dhenkanal, Paradip, Dhamra, Jaleshwar and Raj Nagar. Five teams have been put on standby. A total of 14 teams, comprising 559 personnel and 37 boats, have been positioned at different locations in Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the defence ministry has put all the three armed forces on high alert.

Two IL-76 transport aircraft were rushed to Bhubaneswar. The Indian Air Force has agreed to provide two C 130J Super Hercules aircraft and 18 helicopters, including Mi -17V5 and two AN-32s. It has put it various bases in Raipur, Jagdalpur, Ranchi and Gawalior on stand-by.

The eastern Naval Command would also be flying his helicopters besides teams of divers and inflatable rafts taking position at many locations. Army has moved its engineer column to Bhubneshwar and infantry is on stand-by at Barrackpore.

The union government has also issued instruction to keep teams of doctors and paramedic ready to deal with post-cyclone scenario.

The state governments too are taking measures at their level. According to media reports, Orissa government has set a zero-casualty target. The states have cancelled leaves of it employees and asked them to prepare for all sort of contingencies.