Cyclone Titli makes landfall in Odisha: Coastal districts face heavy rains, strong winds; nearly 3 lakh people evacuated

Severe cyclone Titli made its landfall in Odisha at 5.30 am with gusty winds lashing coastal districts of the state with wind speed reaching 126 kmph at Gopalpur in Ganjam district, the Indian Meteorological Department said. According to reports, as many as 3 lakh people have been evacuated in Odisha so far.

#Visuals from Ganjam's Gopalpur after #TitliCyclone made landfall in the region at 5:30 am today. 10,000 people from low lying areas had been evacuated to govt shelters till last night. #Odisha pic.twitter.com/HEYog0DNe7

— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2018

A red alert has been issued for Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh as well with the IMD predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall till 8.30 am Friday at few places and extremely heavy falls at isolated places over coastal and interior Odisha and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Red Warning for #Odisha and #AndhraPradesh: pic.twitter.com/2X5bFzoM7q

— NDMA India | राष्ट्रीय आपदा प्रबंधन प्राधिकरण 🇮🇳 (@ndmaindia) October 10, 2018

The Odisha weather department in its early morning bulletin has said that strong surface wind is likely to bash 16 districts of Odisha from 4am to 8am today. The bulletin said, “The latest doppler weather radar and satellite images indicate that moderate to severe thunderstorm accompanied by lightning, intense rainfall and strong surface winds are very likely to occur at a few places over the districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Gajapati, Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Anugul and Raygda districts of Odisha.” The government has ordered closure of all schools, colleges and Anganwadi centres on Thursday and Friday, reports said. According to reports, people have been evacuated from vulnerable areas in Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Khordha districts. 13 NDRF and 9 ODRAF teams have been deployed in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Kendrapada, Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Khordha, Cuttack, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi, Boudh and Sambalpur districts. Besides, fire service teams across Odisha have been asked to remain in the alert, said the SRC office. The NDMA has also issued a list of Do’s and Don’ts, advising people to secure loose items including sharp objects inside their homes.

#Odisha #Kolkata #Andamans #Lakshadweep #TamilNadu #Chennai #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/qsiSltlN2q

— NDMA India | राष्ट्रीय आपदा प्रबंधन प्राधिकरण 🇮🇳 (@ndmaindia) October 10, 2018

While all district collectors have been asked to keep the administrative machinery in preparedness, District Emergency Operation Centres of all districts and control rooms of different departments have been activated round the clock. Earlier on Wednesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, had reviewed the preparedness at Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office. SRC Bishnupada Sethi has asked collectors of affected districts to ensure that 836 numbers of multi-purpose shelters are kept ready to accommodate maximum people. With inputs from agencies