Cyclonic storm Titli caused extensive damage to large parts of Gajapati and neighbouring Rayagada districts but spared most of the other coastal areas , though , heavy rains continued right through the day.

Apprehensions of the very severe cyclonic storm Titli causing extensive devastation with wind speeds of over 165 kmph in coastal Odisha districts particularly – Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts had prompted the government to evacuate over 3 lakh people from low lying areas.

But it turned out to be an anti-climax of sorts– the windspeeds were not as predicted and except for heavy rains there was no effect in vast areas of coastal Odisha.

In a bizarre turn of events, people thronging market places and tea stalls in many parts of coastal Odisha were abusive of the television channels and the media for creating ‘panic’ and resulting in skyrocketing prices of essentials – potato sold at Rs 60 per kg because of the hype and fear created by the media was the common refrain.

Landfall of Titli was more towards Kalingapatnam near Palasa in Andhra Pradesh at 5 am this morning. The impact was severe in the south Odisha district like Gajapati.

The fact was however that Gajapati went without power and road communication as large number of trees and electric poles had collapsed. Several houses were damaged.

Parts of Ganjam and Rayagada district had also faced the worse in terms of road communication.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday directed the officials to start the restoration work immediately soon after the wind speed and the rain subsided in the areas.

Mr. Patnaik who reviewed the post-cyclone Titli situation at a high level meeting instructed immediate restoration of power and water supply.

Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said Gajapati district was worst affected by the cyclone. Almost all the blocks of the districts were affected and the communication was badly hit as trees were uprooted and blocked the roads at many places.

Power supply was also affected in the district as many places the overhead wire were snapped due to the high wind speed of cyclonic storm Titli which hit the area with wind speed reaching nearly 126 KMPH. Ganjam district was better off as power supply was restored.

The Chief Secretary said 13 NDRF teams and 20 ODRAF teams were deployed in various sensitive areas of the state for the rescue and relief operation and the government has requested to deploy additional two NDRF teams in Gajapati district taking the situation into consideration.

The districts of Ganjam, Gajpati, Balasore and Jagatsinghpur district on an average received more than 100 MM of rain.

Gajapati district received more than 200 MM of rain on average and the Mohana Block in Gajapati district received the highest rainfall of 315 mm of rain. He ruled out floods in the area but added that Vamsadhara river may be flooded if rainfall continues.

Mr Padhi said three lakh people were evacuated and put up in 1112 multipurpose cyclone shelters yesterday and all facilities including food is being provided to them. He said rescue team have shifted 105 pregnant women of Ganjam and 18 pregnant women of Jagatsinghpur district to hospitals during the cyclonic storm.

There are no reports of any casualty he said while unconfirmed reports said six people had been swept away near Gopalpur.

The cyclone bulletin stated that heavy rainfall will continue as the storm moves towards West Bengal.

East Coast Railway(ECoR) sources here on Thursday said the very severe cyclonic storm Titli has damaged Station Buildings at various places with major damages reported at Palasa Station as the cyclonic storm hit the land mass early this morning near palasa wind velocity reaching over 165 kmph.

Platform Shelters and Foot Over Bridges (FOBs) covers also damaged at various places and so also the Signalling Pole and Over Head Electric Masts between Palasa and Kottabomali Stations. The ECoR on Thursday cancelled several trains on the Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam- Bhubaneswar route.