Cyclone Titli: Power supply hit in Ganjam & Gajapati districts

With the very severe cyclone Titli uprooting more than 100 electric poles and a large number of trees at many places, power supply and road communication was severely hit in Odisha's Ganajm and Gajapati districts Thursday, officials said.

Power lines also got snapped at many places as uprooted trees and broken branches fell on them under the impact of Titli, which made a landfall at Palasa in Andhra Pradesh Thursday morning, they said.

As a precaution, power distribution company Southco had snapped the power supply from Wednesday evening when the speed of wind increased in these southern Odisha districts.

As per the preliminary reports, engineers of Southco said around 120 electric poles, including 55 in Berhampur town, have been uprooted when the wind swept the area at a speed of over 125 kmph.

Similarly at least 15 transformers burst in different places, including five in Berhampur due to the cyclone.

Besides Berhampur, substantial damage of power infrastructure was also reported from Aska, Hinjili, Purushottampur, Bada Madhapur and Kodala. In many places the electric lines have been snapped due to fall of trees, said companys General Manager (Rural), Lenka Prasad.

Extensive damage to power infrastructure was also reported in Gajapati district as wind speed was very high under the influence of Titli. The exact damage to electric infrastructure was yet to be assessed due to disruption of road communication in the area, officials said.

The restoration work was hit due to incessant rain accompanied by high velocity wind, they said.

"We are ready and restoration work will be expedited once the intensity of rainfall and wind flow reduces, Prasad said adding efforts are on to restore power supply in major parts of the region as soon as possible.

Southco's General Manger (Urban) P K Choudhury said efforts are on to restore power supply in around 70 per cent areas in city by Thursday night and in the rest areas, mainly on the outskirt, by Friday.

As uprooted trees blocked several roads in the two districts, connectivity was virtually thrown out of gear in both Ganjam and Gajapati.

In Ganjam, road communication from Berhampur to Aska, Gopalpur, Chahtrapur and Purushptampur was disrupted for several hours. In Berhampur, roadside trees were uprooted due to high speed wind since Wednesday night.

Roads wore a pathetic look with huge logs, branches, electric poles and wires scattered all over.

Ganjam district Collector Vijay Amrita Kulange said fire brigade and ODARF personnel were engaged to clear the roads. Major roads, including the National Highway were cleared on a war footing, he said.

Damage of houses and loss of standing crops are yet to be assessed, Kulange added.