Cyclone Titli has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday and is moving towards the Odisha coast, triggering rainfall in several parts of the eastern State.
Five coastal districts of Odisha have been put on high alert and the Odisha Government has begun evacuation of about 2 lakh people.
Thereafter, it is very likely to move northeast towards Gangetic West Bengal across Odisha before gradually losing strength. All schools, colleges and anganwadi centres in Odisha have been declared closed on Thursday. People living in the low-lying areas and hutments along the coast are being shifted to safer places. Fishers along the Odisha coast, and central and north Bay of Bengal have been advised not to venture into sea till Friday.
“Cyclone Titli moved at 14 kmph and intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and lay centred over the west-central Bay of Bengal, 320 km south-southeast of Gopalpur in Odisha,” IMD said in a bulletin.
Damage is expected in the districts, as well as Vishakhapatnam and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh, and Gajapati and Nayagarh in Odisha, the IMD said.
The Odisha Government has also issued a warning for possible floods in view of the approaching cyclone. It has issued a high alert in all districts especially those located in the coastal region, and set a target of “zero casualties”. Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha also chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to take stock of preparatory measures in the wake of Titli.
The weather office said the cyclonic storm is likely to make a landfall between Gopalpur in Odisha and Kalingapatanam in Andhra Pradesh early on Thursday morning at a wind speed gusting up to 165 kilometres per hour. According to the IMD, this would come under category II of cyclone which lead to some roof and structural damage, some caravans destroyed, power failure likely. The speed of cyclone decides its gravity and destruction.
Meanwhile, as many as 10 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 8 of Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) have also been positioned at different places for rescue operations. The three armed forces have also been put on alert.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Centre of the US navy also said the cyclone continued to rapidly consolidate and indications of a nascent eye beginning to form.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Titli intensified further into a very severe cyclonic storm during at 11.30 am on Wednesday and may lead to waves rising up to 1 metre on the coast. Under its impact, heavy rains have already started in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Balasore and Kendrapara districts.
The IMD has also predicted the cyclonic wind to chew away a large part of Andhra Pradesh districts like Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam and Odisha districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri and Kendrapara.
As per the IMD forecast, “heavy to very heavy rainfall” at several places and “extremely heavy rainfall” at isolated areas is expected till Thursday. Districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore are likely to be lashed by heavy to very heavy rainfall till Thursday. Heavy to very heavy rainfall is also forecast for Kandhamal, Boudh and Dhenkanal district from Thursday. The Meteorological Centre Bhubaneswar has also issued a heavy rainfall warning for the next three days.
Official sources said 9,83,642 people were evacuated when Cyclone Philin hit the State in 2013 and 2,55,042 people were shifted to multi-purpose shelter centres during Cyclone Hudhud in 2014.
Under the impact of the cyclone, predicted heavy to extremely heavy rains to lash many parts of Gangetic West Bengal on October 11 and 12. Places such as South and North 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Contai, Diamond Harbour, Digha and all the nearby areas will be affected. Other districts in West Bengal such as Midnapore, Bankura and Vardaman will receive good rains with comparatively less intensity.