Sunday Times 2
Half a million people evacuated as cyclone lashes India
View(s):BHUBANESWAR, India, Oct 12 (AFP) -India evacuated nearly half a million people as massive cyclone Phailin closed in on the impoverished east coast today, with winds already uprooting trees and tearing into the flimsy homes.
The storm packed gusts of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour) as it churned over the Bay of Bengal, making it potentially the most powerful cyclone to hit the area since 1999, when more than 8,000 died, the Indian weather office said.
“The very severe cyclonic storm Phailin is moving menacingly towards the coast,” special relief commissioner for the state of Orissa, Pradipta Mohapatra told AFP, as it arrived within 150 kilometres (90 miles) of landfall.
Authorities said they expected a three-metre (10-foot) storm surge when the eye of the cyclone strikes in the early evening (around 1230 GMT), with torrential rain also threatening floods in low-lying areas.
“I’ve got faint memories of the 1999 super cyclone,” nervous 23-year-old student engineer Apurva Abhijeeta told AFP from the coastal town of Puri, 70 kilometres from state capital Bhubaneswar.
“I dread this Phailin. It’s as if the world is coming to an end. “Heavy waves pounded the coast as terrified locals made their way to solid buildings, cramming into packed rickshaws and buses as they travelled. Relief efforts were underway, with free food being served in shelters.
Food stockpiling began earlier in the week as Phailin gathered strength dramatically in the Bay of Bengal, with many shops stripped bare before they closed on Saturday afternoon.
In Visakhapatnam, further south on the coast of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state, fishermen frantically sought to secure their boats while others admired the rough surf.
Large boats could be seen anchored out at sea, while the biggest port in the area, in Paradip, has shut down.
An AFP correspondent on the last flight to arrive in Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar before the airport was closed described how the plane aborted the first attempted landing in shearing winds and pounding rain.
At least 440,000 people have been evacuated from the coastal areas of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to the south, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).
Vice-chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy told a news conference it was one of the biggest evacuations in India’s history, and had been aided by improved early warning systems.
“We will be on a war footing,” he said in New Delhi.
comments powered by Disqus