Super cyclone Phailin rips into Odisha, Andhra Pradesh
CHENNAI: Total darkness, fallen trees and collapsed houses and flying debris were the first signs of a terrifying night after a fearsome monster cyclone Phailin gusting from the Bay of Bengal at 9 pm on Saturday, as predicted, ripped into the coasts of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in south-east India.
The landfall which tore through the coasts at a gale speed of 210 kmph along with the accompanying storm surges in a track width of over 100 km centering Gopalpur, a port town 150 km south of Bhubaneswar, destroyed roads, rails, power lines, communication towers
and buildings across the coasts.
Even as five lakh people have fled or been evacuated following a disaster warning by Saturday evening, the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that the "very severe
cyclonic storm" which was to last 6 hours would cause damages on its escape route deep into Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as it peters out in another 6 hours. The casualties in the aftermath of the storm surges, or huge walls of sea water, propelled by the powerful gale across, will not be known till day-break but the initial scouting winds had claimed five lives early in the evening and 18 fishermen were missing Saturday.
The army, navy and air force personnel are ready with equipments for rescue and relief operations in the morning. While the IAF has deployed large transport and cargo aircrafts, naval warships equipped with divers and supplies were also expected to join the rescue
operations. The army is moving in teams of its engineers to be ready for quick reconstruction of infrastructure for rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, the kudos for forecasting the data about the cyclone right goes to the Indian Meteorological Department, which estimated the speed and power of the gale at less than 220 while the American navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre and London-based Tropical
Storm had said that cyclone Phailin would come with highly fearsome winds reaching 315 kmph on landfall, classifying Phailin as a Category 5 storm, the most powerful ever. And, when it gusted it was 210 kmph!
India's eastern coast, Bangladesh and Myanmar are routinely devastated by cyclones from the Bay of Bengal between April and November.
