The Puri district administration took a big respite on Thursday after severe cyclone storm ‘Titli’ weakened with no major effects on the coastal villages.
No causality was reported along the beach from Astarang to Krusnaprasad blocks of the district. However, the sea remained violent with big tides coming toward shore of Puri beach.
Since morning till evening the beach wore a deserted look with few tourists coming from their hotels to the shore. Though the sky was completely dark throughout the day however, the rain started in the evening with increasing wind speed. The cyclonic storm also hampered the visitors in the Jagannath Temple with a few pilgrims reportedly entering the shrine for darshan of the Lords.
Looking at the weakening storm, the district administration advised the people in cyclone shelters to leave for home. If people want they can stay one more day in the shelters, said the officials.
Deputy Collector (election) Sumant Kar said to The Pioneer that total 20,417 people in 63 cyclone shelters were staying and had been provided cooked foods.
District Collector Jyoti Prakash Das along with senior officials visited different places along Puri beach on Thursday afternoon and supervised the situation. He also met some people there and advised them not to panic on rumour. Later, he convened a meeting of the senior officials and collected inputs from officials already deputed to Astarang, Kakatpur, Puri Sadar, Puri Urban, Brahmagiri and Parikud blocks.
Sources said the storm had no major effect on Chilka lake with no causality reported by 8 pm on Thursday. Wind blew with high speed in the lake throughout the day. No fisher was found in Chilka as per advisory given to them not to venture with their boat.
“Titli had no effect here. But wind speed was high,” informed IIC of Krunaprasad police station Dillip Kumar Swain. Only a small hut in Malud island collapsed due to high wind, Swain told.