The very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS), Titli, is very likely to move north-northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts to the southwest of Gopalpur within the next hour, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday.
Titli moved north-northwestwards with a speed of about 19 kmph during the last 9 hours hours and lay centered at 0230 hrs IST over the Westcentral Bay of Bengal, close to north Andhra Pradesh – south Odisha coast, as per an IMD report.
Gopalpur reported 107 kmph and Kalingapatnam reported a surface wind speed of 55 kmph. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected at most places across the state and a few places and extremely heavy falls at isolated places over the coastal and interior Odisha.
Earlier on Wednesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said around three lakh people were evacuated from the coastal areas of the state in view the storm.
After holding the second review meeting at the office of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) during the day, he had said, “If required, more people will be evacuated to safer places.”
Stressing on the government’s ‘zero casualty’ disaster management policy, Patnaik had said, “The state government has been closely monitoring the situation. The district collectors are already on high alert.”
Evacuation was carried out in the five coastal districts of Ganjam, Puri, Khura, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara.
According to official sources, 9,83,642 people were evacuated when Cyclone Phailin hit the state in 2013 and 2,55,042 people were shifted to multi-purpose shelters during Cyclone Hudhud in 2014. The state was also hit by Cyclone Daye in September, but its intensity was low.
The review meeting, attended by Chief Secretary A P Padhi, SRC B P Sethi and others, also took stock of the state’s preparedness for the possible floods due to heavy to very heavy rainfall under the influence of the cyclone.
Patnaik directed the authorities to closely monitor the possibility of flood situation also.
Water resources secretary P K Jena had said though there has been no such flood situation right now, the government has been keeping an eye on rainfall in Bansadhara and Rushikulya river basins in southern parts of the where the cyclone is likely to have more impact.
Source: Zee News