The worldwide alarm over the destructive potential of cyclone Phailin subsided as strict vigil put up by the authorities in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh minimised the damage and Governments of the two States began stock taking of the losses on Sunday.
The cyclone claimed 23 lives — 21 in Odisha and two in Andhra Pradesh. The cyclone damaged thousands of houses, infrastructure and destroyed paddy crop worth about Rs 2,400 crore. Extensive damage has also been caused to kutcha houses besides partial disruption of power, communication lines and rail and road traffic in various parts of Odisha, particularly in Ganjam district, which faced the storm’s onslaught. Deaths that were reported from Andhra were mainly caused by falling trees and house collapses.
Communication links were vastly disrupted by the strong winds that went up to a speed of 220 kmph when the storm crossed the coast near Gopalpur in Odisha on Thursday night and weakened towards the day becoming a depression. Authorities in the State evacuated nearly 90 lakh people, the largest in recent history, ahead of the storm to cyclone shelters and public buildings like schools to avoid a repeat of the disastrous 1999 super cyclone that had left 9,885 people dead.
“We are on the whole quite satisfied with the type of evacuation that was done,” Vice- Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority M Shashidhar Reddy said. In Gopalpur, where the storm struck first, “almost 90-95 per cent people had been evacuated”. The IMD said in New Delhi that Phailin has weakened into a cyclonic storm with wind speed between 60 and 70 kmph. It is currently close to Jharsuguda in north Odisha.
The cyclone weakened on Sunday morning and settle into a deep depression by the evening. Under its impact, heavy rains lashed coastal districts of Puri, Balasore, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Sambalpur in inland Odisha, and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the primary aim was to minimise loss of human lives and they have successfully managed to do so.
“Property to the tune of several crores has been damaged. Rehabilitation will now be done,” he said. Giving details of the devastation caused by the cyclone, Odisha Revenue Minister SN Patro said 14,514 villages in 12 districts have been affected, hitting a population of 80,53,620. Over 2.34 lakh houses have been damaged and more than 8.73 lakh people have been evacuated. Over five lakh hectares of standing crops have been destroyed by the gushing waters causing an estimated loss of Rs 2,400 crore, he said.
Though the cyclone hit Gopalpur with a speed of around 200 kms per hour, it did not have as much impact on Andhra’s Srikakulam and Vizianagaram district as feared earlier. T Radha, commissioner, disaster management, Andhra Pradesh attributed the success in minimizing the loss of life to the cooperation from all the agencies including the Army, Navy, National Disaster Relief Force and the police. “The fact that we had evacuated more than a lakh people from the vulnerable areas helped to a great extent”, he said.
Heavy rains continued to lash Srikakulam and parts of Vizianagaram district even on Sunday. Srikakulam has recorded 20 cms of rains during the last 24 hours. The sky was still overcast and the meteorological department has forecast more rains over the next 48 hours under the influence of the storm, which lay centered 50 kms from Sambhalpur in Odisha on Sunday afternoon.
It was a completely wet and gloomy Dussehra festival in this part of Andhra Pradesh as more than a lakh people spent the day in the relief camps and cyclone shelter waiting for the signal from authorities to go home and check what is left of them. In a surprising sight, some of the thatched houses were left intact bang on the coast in Srikakulam district suggesting that wind velocity was not as ferocious as feared.
Entire Srikakulam district and parts of Vizianagaram district were in darkness. “It will take another two days to totally restored the power supply”, Dr T Radha said. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the situation with officials. According to the preliminary assessment cyclone has damaged paddy crop on an area 7500 acres, maize and sugarcane on100 acres each. Coconut plantation on area of 3219 and bana plantation on 283 acres and 653 acres of vegetable crops were also damaged.
Biggest loss was suffered by the fishermen. As many as 42,279 of them lost their source of livelihood, the official report said. The Chief Minister ordered that each family should be provided with ten kgs of rice. State Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy, who was touring the affected areas assured all possible help to the fishermen families. The damage to the houses was limited as only 29 houses were damaged completely and another 53 partially.