The people of Paradip dreamt of the deadly disaster of their life, the Super Cyclone 18 years back on October 29, 1999. The cyclone had battered the coastal districts of Odisha.
The category 5 cyclone was unexpected. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had earlier projected the direction of the cyclone towards Bangladesh. But to the utter surprise of the world meteorological people, the cyclone took almost a 90 degree turn near Paradip and wrecked havoc, by way of colossal destruction, killing at least 12,000 people and rendering an estimated 1.5 million people homeless.
The storm which began its journey from near Thailand gained in strength and became a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal on October 27, with a wind velocity of 300 km/hr. On October 29, it hit the Odisha coast between Ersama and Balikuda in the Jagatsinghpur district, southwest of Paradip.
The cyclone battered the coastal districts for more than eight hours. The tidal surge of wave more than 30 feet of the sea swept across low lying areas near the coast, wiped out entire villages. Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Kendrapara and Khurda were among the districts which were worst affected. This was the second storm in a fortnight during that period, the one on October 17, 1999 had struck Ganjam district and left at least 150 people dead in the State.
The Odisha Government under the premiership of Giridhari Gamanga, unprepared to handle a storm of this magnitude, sought help of the Indian Army and Air Force to carry out massive relief and rescue operations. Initially, the extent of damage was difficult to ascertain, with the cyclone tearing down bridges and making roads and railways inaccessible. Rescue efforts and operations were further hampered by the complete breakdown of all communication links with affected areas, and the continuing bad weather. Defence personnel using helicopters to drop food parcels reported thousands of people stranded on rooftops and pockets of high land.
Because of contamination of drinking water by human bodies and decomposed carcasses of animals, hundreds of people contracted chronic diarrhoea and other diseases. The volunteers of Anand Margis, Sri Sathyasai Seva Organisation, Divine life Society, Tata Steel limited and many other organisations had a stupendous task of collecting the bodies of animals, humans and giving them a mass burials and funerals.
The subsequent small and medium type cyclones have seen Odisha Government on its toes warning the coastal people and taking major steps of rescuing and shifting people from low lying areas to higher grounds thus minimising losses which might be a great lesson and warning given by the Super Cyclone of 1999.