Hyderabad: Orissa and Andhra Pradesh braced for widespread devastation as a Cyclone Phailin as big as India itself roared towards the coast, on course for landfall near Gopalpur in Orissa's Ganjam district on Saturday evening after crossing an area between Paradip in Odisha and Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted wind speeds of 210-220 km/hr at the time of landfall, but resisted upgrading tropical storm Phailin from a 'Very Severe Cyclone' to a 'Super Cyclone'. Memories of the 1999 super cyclone, however, fueled widespread panic across a vast swathe of southern Orissa.
Five districts were in the eye of the storm with IMD chief Dr LS Rathore identifying Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts in Odisha and Srikakalum in Andhra Pradesh as those that is likely to be worst hit. Rathore said the cyclone storm over east central Bay of Bengal currently lay 450 km southeast of Gopalpur and warned that it will be accompanied by a storm surge of up to three metres in the districts that will bear the brunt. “Cyclone Phailin is a very severe cyclone,” Rathore said in Delhi. Rathore said the storm, which will hit the coast at 6 p.m., is unlikely to develop into a super cyclone. Phailin was named by Thailand and it means sapphire in Thai. The IMD warned of wave surges up to 3 metres above high tide in the Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Orissa, and prohibited fishermen from going out to sea. Large waves and high winds had begun to lash the coast by Friday afternoon.
In Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad, governments hunkered down to face the coming devastation. Defence Minister A K Antony ordered the armed forces to be ready to move in to Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal to tackle the fallout of the disaster. Two IAF Il-76 aircraft flew teams and equipment of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) to Bhubaneswar on Friday. Twenty-eight NDRF teams had been put at Orissa's disposal, and eight teams of 20 personnel each were on the ground in Puri district, a government spokesperson said. "Other IAF assets are on standby at various bases. IAF has committed two C130J Super Hercules aircraft, 18 helicopters and two AN-32s to the effort," a defence spokesperson said. The Navy was standing by with diving teams, inflatable rafts, helicopters and equipment.
In Orissa, nearly 3,00,000 people had been evacuated along the coast. Speaking in New Delhi, IMD chief Dr L S Rathore said Phailin was a very severe cyclone but was unlikely to develop into a supercyclone, but Orissa officials said they were expecting the worst. "The US Navy has forecast that the wind speed will be above 240 kmph. Therefore, the cyclone is not less than any super cyclone for us," Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra told reporters in Bhubaneswar.
