Author Topic: Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India  (Read 1785 times)

hubag bohol

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Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India
« on: October 12, 2013, 09:30:08 PM »
by AFP
October 12, 2013 , 3 : 09 pm



People walk among debris from a broken wall after it was damaged by a wave brought by Cyclone Phailin at a fishing harbour in Visakhapatnam district in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Photo - Reuters


New Delhi: India evacuated nearly half a million people as massive cyclone Phailin closed in on the impoverished east coast on Saturday, with winds already uprooting trees and tearing into the flimsy homes.

The storm packed gusts of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour) as it churned over the Bay of Bengal, making it potentially the most powerful cyclone to hit the area since 1999, when more than 8,000 died, the Indian weather office said.

"The very severe cyclonic storm Phailin is moving menacingly towards the coast," special relief commissioner for the state of Orissa, Pradipta Mohapatra said, as it arrived within 150 kilometres (90 miles) of landfall.

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Re: Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2013, 09:31:05 PM »
Authorities said they expected a three-metre (10 - foot) storm surge when the eye of the cyclone strikes in the early evening (around 1230GMT), with torrential rain also threatening floods in low-lying areas.

"I've got faint memories of the 1999 super cyclone," nervous 23-year-old student engineer Apurva Abhijeeta said from the coastal town of Puri, 70 kilometres from state capital Bhubaneswar.

"I dread this Phailin. It's as if the world is coming to an end."

Heavy waves pounded the coast as terrified locals made their way to solid buildings, cramming into packed rickshaws and buses as they travelled. Relief efforts were underway, with free food being served in shelters.

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Re: Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2013, 09:31:48 PM »
Food stockpiling began earlier in the week as Phailin gathered strength dramatically in the Bay of Bengal, with many shops stripped bare before they closed on Saturday afternoon.

In Visakhapatnam, further south on the coast of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state, fishermen frantically sought to secure their boats while others admired the rough surf.

Large boats could be seen anchored out at sea, while the biggest port in the area, in Paradip, has shut down.

"This boat cost Rs400,000 ($6,500). I don't want to lose it," 60-year-old fisherman Tonka Rao said as he secured his wooden vessel.

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Re: Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2013, 09:32:36 PM »
An AFP correspondent on the last flight to arrive in Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar before the airport was closed described how the plane aborted the first attempted landing in shearing winds and pounding rain.

'On a war footing'At least 440,000 people have been evacuated from the coastal areas of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to the south, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).

Vice-chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy told a news conference it was one of the biggest evacuations in India's history, and had been aided by improved early warning systems.

"We will be on a war footing," he said in New Delhi.

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Re: Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2013, 09:33:24 PM »
Authorities were still rushing to get people out of the storm's path, even those who were reluctant to move.

"We've been instructed by the government to use force in case people resist," said Mohapatra, the Orissa special relief commissioner.

In the seaside town of Gopalpur, which is expected to be one of the worst affected areas, women and children were the first to pack into shelters, schools and public buildings, where they lay on mats.

The Indian Red Cross Society also had disaster response teams ready while the air force, fresh from helping evacuate thousands from floods in the Himalayas in June, flew in food and medical supplies to Bhubaneswar.

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Re: Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2013, 09:36:52 PM »
Memories of '99

It is set to strike the same coastal area that was hit badly in 1999, a region mostly populated with fishermen and small-scale farmers who live in flimsy huts with thatched roofs or shanties.

Weather officials have warned of widespread crop damage in impoverished Orissa, which relies heavily on agriculture.

It took years for crop yields to recover after soil was contaminated by saltwater during the 1999 cyclone, leaving the state dependent on aid.

That storm had higher wind speeds and a larger storm surge — six metres — than being currently predicted by the Indian weather office.

But "with the horrendous experience of 1999 still haunting them, no one wants to take anything for granted", retired government officer Yudhistir Mohanty said.

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Re: Half a million evacuated as cyclone lashes India
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2013, 09:37:35 PM »
A government report on the 1999 disaster put the death toll at 8,243 and said 445,000 livestock perished.

Authorities have said they are better prepared this time around.

The Orissa government said it was setting a "zero casualty target" in the state of close to 40 million people, and was seeking "100 per cent" evacuation of people in the worst - affected areas.

Some of the deadliest storms in history have formed in the Bay of Bengal, including one in 1970 that killed hundreds of thousands of people in modern-day Bangladesh.


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