With cyclonic storm Phailin over east central Bay of Bengal on the move and likely to cross between Kalingapatnam and Paradip close to Gopalpur by Saturday evening at a maximum wind speed of 175 -185 kmph, the State Government on Thursday sounded an alert at seven districts more, putting the total number of possible vulnerable districts at 21.
The Government also ordered administrations of the coastal districts to start evacuation of people living in mud houses from the low-lying area close to coast line to safer places by force from Friday to avoid any casualty due to the possible storm surge along with the high tide. As leaves and puja holidays of officials in all the 30 districts have been cancelled, the offices of the State Government would remain open during the puja holidays.
The step was taken to facilitate movement of manpower and materials of neighbouring unaffected districts to affected districts on requisition of the concerned district administration in case of necessity, said Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patro after a high-level meeting on preparedness here.
Patro said that since Phailin is likely to hit the State near Gopalpur, the eye of the storm would be centered on Rayagada, Koraput, Nawanragpur, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Boudh, Phulbani, besides the 14 identified coastal districts. The costal districts of Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Baleswar and Badrakh would be the most vulnerable areas as far the cyclone is concerned, he informed.
As per warning given by the Bhubaneswar met office, the storm surge with height of around 1.5 to 2.0 metre above astronomical tide would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khordha, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts during land fall. Apart from storm surge, seven districts namely Ganjam, Gajapati, Nayagarh, Khordha, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada are likely to be highly affected on account of high wind and heavy rainfall.
Keeping in view the possible situation, the State Government has taken all preparedness measures to combat the crisis. Besides the local precautionary measures to minimize the disaster and zero casualty, the Chief Minister has sought the Union Ministries of Defence and Home for deployment of Air Force, Navy and NDMA force. Accordingly, the Air Force is ready with MI-17 helicopters for carrying out air dropping operation in case of necessity at air headquarters at Barrackpore Air Force Base for immediate deployment.
It has been decided to prepare one lakh food packets in advance for air dropping. Rs10 crore out of SDRF has been sanctioned and released to the Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare Department towards procurement of dry foods for supply to the vulnerable districts and air dropping operation. The ODRAF and NDRF teams have been stationed at strategic locations to carry out search and rescue operations without loss of time.
Apart from deployment of the NDRF forces of 3rd Battalion, Mundali, 15 more NDRF teams have been mobilised from Battalions located in other States, the official sources said. The Collectors of all the 14 cyclone prone districts such as Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Baleswar, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khordha, Nayagarh, Gajapati, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar have been directed to take all precautionary measures to combat the situation. The Collectors have in the meantime convened a meeting of their respective District Disaster Management Authorities and taken the required preparatory measures to effectively deal with the situation, Patro said.
The District Emergency Operation Centres have been activated to operate round the clock. All Collectors have also been directed to activate Control Rooms round the clock at Blocks, Sub-divisions and Tehsils. The fishermen on sea have been asked to immediately come back to the shore. The Collectors have been directed to conduct mock drill in every cyclone and flood shelters during which all the equipment available in cyclone shelters including generator, water pump, inflatable tower light, mechanised cutter, etc shall be test run to ensure that these are in working order. Fuel shall be stored for operation of the equipment.
All the 14 cyclone-prone districts have been provided with satellite phones for ensuring communication in case of failure of telephone and mobile phones and the BSNl authorities have made necessary arrangements to ensure operation of the telephone/ cell phone with back-up power system. They have been requested to pre-position adequate fuel for at least 7 days for operation of generators at telephone exchange/ cell towers, the sources said.
The Energy Department has mobilised manpower and materials to the districts likely to be affected to ensure prompt restoration of power supply. All the departments have been advised to make their own power back-up arrangement for their offices as power supply is likely to be stopped during cyclone for safety reasons.
The Health and FW Department has taken steps to preposition adequate quantity of stock of medicines and formed mobile medical teams. Similar steps have also been taken by the F&ARD Department to take care of the cattle health. The department has also made necessary arrangements of cattle feed for supply to the districts likely to be affected. The FS&CW Department has taken steps for pre-positioning of food materials and made arrangements to procure dry food like flattened rice, gur, etc for distribution among the affected people.
The H&UD Department and RD Department have been asked to make necessary arrangement for supply of drinking water and disinfection of water sources. The Home Department has issued instruction for maintenance of law and order and curbing of stealing/ loot of public properties, apart from necessary security arrangement for transport of relief materials.
As per information received from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Phailin over east central Bay of Bengal moved northwest wards and intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm before laying centered at 5.30 pm on October 10, about 650 km south -east Paradip and 700 km southeast of Gopalpur. It would continue to move northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast between Kalingapatnam and Paradip, close to Gopalpur (Odisha), by October 12 evening, the IMD warning said.
Under the impact of the system, heavy rainfall would occur at one or two places over Odisha during next 12 hours and very heavy falls up to 25cm would occur over coastal Odisha commencing from October 12 morning, it said, adding it would continue and extend to interior Odisha as well.
While the IMD has advised the Paradip and Gopalpur Ports to hoist Distant Warning Signal number two, it also asked the fishermen out at sea to return to coast. Under the influence of the ongoing system squally winds speed reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph would commence along and off Odisha coast from Friday morning. It would increase in intensity with gale wind speed reaching 175-185 kmph along and off coastal districts of south Odisha at the time of landfall.
State of the sea along and off Odisha coast will be rough to very rough from October 11morning and will become phenomenal on October 12. Storm surge with height of around 1.5-2.0 metre above astronomical tide would inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts during landfall, the warning report said.