The coastal community in Ganjam district had found it hard to believe that a severe cyclone was going to strike their homes at a time when the sun was shining bright before the calamity happened. So, evacuating them to safe place proved to be a big challenge for the administration.
Ganjam Collector Krishan Kumar said it was a hard task convincing people that they needed to move out.The administration started the evacuation process on October 11 at about 4 pm. But the sun was shining bright and people told the evacuation teams that the latter were wrong that a cyclone would come next day.
Some people even remarked that the evacuators were outsiders and they did not know the behaviour of the sea.The Collector said all people available on ground including civil volunteer teams were pressed into action to tour the coastal areas and spread the message of the cyclone closing in and hitting the coast.The evacuation continued all night on October 11 and continued till the afternoon of October 12.