Disaster officials don't
want a repeat of a 1999 cyclone disaster that claimed 10,000 lives, so
they are evacuating hundreds of thousands of people as a massive storm
in the Bay of Bengal nears landfall.
"We have taken a
zero-casualty approach," said Odisha state disaster manager Kamal Lochan
Mishra. "If people do not move, force will be used to evacuate them."
Tropical Cyclone Phailin
is expected to make landfall somewhere near the border of Odisha and
Andhra Pradesh states in India between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time.
The storm is moving
steadily across the Bay of Bengal and is now less than 40 kilometers (25
miles) from shore, the Indian Meteorological Department said.
More than 500,000 people
have been evacuated to safer places in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states,
national disaster-management authority chief Marri Shashidhar Reddy
said.
Of them, more than 400,000 were moved to safety in Odisha alone, he told CNN.
There were "some reports" of people refusing to be evacuated, but they too were finally taken to safe shelters, Reddy said.
There are conflicting reports about the death toll so far.
Odisha's
director-general of police Prakash Mishra told CNN that two men and a
woman had been killed by trees brought down by heavy winds in the state.
Local police in Odisha told CNN's sister network in India, CNN-IBN,
that seven people had been killed by falling trees.
Cyclone Phailin to cause major damage
The tropical cyclone is
expected to pack winds of up to 140 mph when it makes landfall and will
bring a storm surge of as much as 6 or 7 meters (20-23 feet) in places,
threatening densely populated areas that are vulnerable to flooding.
Many of those evacuated
from low-lying coastal areas of Odisha left on foot or by bicycle, Kamal
Lochan Mishra said. Evacuations will continue until Phailin roars
ashore, he said.
They are being housed in nearly 250 emergency shelters set up in sturdy buildings like schools and government offices.
The cyclone is expected to hit between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Paradip in Odisha, CNN-IBN said.
The Ganjam district of
Odisha is expected to be the worst hit, with disaster preparedness
efforts concentrated there, the network reported.
In Gopalpur, a coastal
resort town in Ganjam, restaurants were shuttered and streets deserted
Saturday afternoon, as rain lashed down. Tourists as well as local
resident have been asked to leave the town.
Power is out in coastal
areas including Kalingapatnam, from where about 80,000 people have been
evacuated to relief camps, CNN-IBN reported. Some fishermen earlier told
the broadcaster they had defied the order to leave, anxious to see what
happened on the shore.
Residents further inland have been advised to stay indoors as the monster cyclone makes landfall.
Military deployed
Some fear a repeat of
what happened on October 29, 1999, when Cyclone 05B, also known as the
Odisha Cyclone, made landfall in the same area, causing the loss of more
than 10,000 lives.
The strongest tropical
cyclone recorded in the Bay of Bengal, it had winds of 155 mph at
landfall and caused more than $2 billion in damage.
Phailin will be less
intense than that at landfall and is likely to weaken more as it moves
on shore, but will still bring storm surges and dump heavy rainfall on
inland areas for the next two days.
The eye of the storm,
which has been getting smaller in size, is expected to pass over the
city of Brahmapur. The third largest city on the east coast,
Visakhapatnam, is further from the center of the storm but will also
suffer strong winds.
Hurricane-force winds
are expected to last until noon Sunday, and could extend several hundred
kilometers inland as the storm moves into India.
Military units and
National Disaster Response Force personnel have been deployed with
relief materials and medical aid in coastal districts in preparation for
Phailin's arrival, CNN-IBN said. More than 20 medical teams have also
been flown in to the region.
Federal and state government ministers are being briefed on the situation, the cabinet secretary said.
All flights to Odisha have been canceled and train services in the state are also disrupted, CNN's sister network reported.
Disaster preparedness
International
humanitarian organization World Vision said it was helping local
community groups prepare for the cyclone's arrival.
"In a storm of this
magnitude there is the potential for widespread damage to crops and
livestock in the low-lying coastal areas and houses completely wiped
away," said Kunal Shah, the head of World Vision's emergency response in
India. "So while we are praying this storm loses intensity, we're also
preparing."
The organization has
worked for the past several years to train local people in disaster
preparedness, including search and rescue, basic first aid and how to
protect livestock, and has thousands of emergency response kits ready to
hand out where needed.
"We believe communities are better prepared than they were when the devastating cyclone hit in 1999," said Shah.
The force of the storm
-- which is equivalent to a strong Category 4 hurricane -- could change
the geography of the shoreline in places, creating inlets and eroding
beaches, CNN forecasters said.
Rough seas, gales
The India Meteorological
Department has warned that Phailin is a "very severe cyclonic storm"
and urged the evacuation of coastal areas.
Gale-force winds are
already whipping coastal areas of Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh and
will continue to do so for hours after landfall, it said.
The storm surge could
inundate low-lying areas of Odisha's Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and
Jagatsinghpur districts and the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh
during landfall, it said.
Rainfall, some of it
very heavy, started Friday in coastal Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh
and has now spread to inland areas of Odisha and coastal areas of West
Bengal state.
Seas off the coast of
Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh have become extremely rough as the
cyclone approaches land. Fishing operations are suspended, and all
fishermen were advised to return to shore.
The meteorological
department warns of extensive damage to so-called kutcha houses, those
made of flimsy materials such as mud and bamboo, as well as some damage
to old buildings.
Power and communication
lines are likely to suffer large-scale disruption. Extensive flooding
will also disrupt rail and road traffic, and crops are likely to suffer
major damage, it said.
People in affected areas may be at risk from flying debris, as well as the flooding of escape routes.
