Phailin moves closer to Odisha, defence helicopters sought

The very severe cyclonic storm 'Phailin', expected to make landfall at Gopalpur in Odisha, moved closer to the state and lay about 600 km southeast of Paradip, as the government sought the help of defence forces to boost its preparedness, official sources said tonight.
"The system Phailin over east central Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards slightly, intensified further and lay centred at about 600 km southeast of Paradip and 700 km southeast of Gopalpur," the latest bulletin issued by the IMD said.
It would continue to move northwestwards and make landfall close to Gopalpur on the Odisha coast and north Andhra Pradesh by the evening of October 12 in the shape of a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum wind speed of 175-185 kmph, it said.

"Our past experience indicates that despite the state government's preparedness, impact of a very severe cyclonic storm requires support of the defence forces to mitigate the effects of extreme weather events," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said in a letter to Defence Minister A K Antony.
The Defence ministry has responded immediately to the state government's request.
Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra told PTI that the Defence ministry has confirmed that some helicopters would be kept ready at Barrackpore in neighbouring West Bengal and would be ready to fly out by Sunday morning.

He said Odisha did not have a place to station the helicopters therefore they would fly in from Barrackpore.

Mohapatra said that food packets for about 1 lakh people would be ready before the cyclone's landfall.
Director of IMD, Bhubaneswar, Sarat Sahu said squally winds speeds reaching 45-55 kmph to 65 kmph would hit Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh tomorrow morning.