The “very severe cyclonic storm”, Titli, made its landfall Gopalpur in Odisha’s Ganjam district around 5.30 am on Thursday morning. The India Meteorological Department said the Titli cyclone crossed North Andhra Pradesh, near Palasa in Srikakulam district to the southwest of Gopalpur with an estimated maximum sustained surface wind speed of 140-150 kmph gusting to 165 kmph.
No casualty or any major damage had been reported till 8 am. According to the IMD, Gopalpur experienced 126 kmph velocity surface wind speed during the landfall. Trees and electricity poles were uprooted at several places. Road communication at some places, including Gopalpur and Berhampur, was reportedly snapped.
The process of landfall of the cyclone Titli started early Thursday around 4.30 am.
While Gopalpur reported surface winds at 126 kmph, Kalingapatanam in Andhra Pradesh recorded a wind speed of 56 kmph.
READ | Cyclone Titli Dos and Don’ts, Forecast, Warnings, Preparedness
As the landfall process began, Odisha districts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur started receiving a good amount of rainfall coupled with high speed winds.
AS A VERY SEVERE CYCLONIC STORM WITH ESTIMATED MAXIMUM SUSTAINED SURFACE WIND SPEED OF 140-150 KMPH GUSTING TO 165 KMPH BETWEEN 0430 AND 0530 HOURS IST OF TODAY, THE 11TH OCTOBER 2018. GOPALPUR REPORTED 126 KMPH SURFACE WIND SPEED. pic.twitter.com/Tn3mGsofSM
— India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) October 11, 2018
According to a Skymet report, danger is not over yet as Titli will now recurve and track northeastwards travelling along the coast across Odisha. The report said this would keep Odisha at risk for another 48 hours, resulting in more flooding rains through Thursday.
North Andhra Pradesh and Gangetic West Bengal are also likely to see heavy to extremely heavy rains.
Speaking to PTI earlier, HR Biswas, Director of Metereological Centre, Bhubaneswar, had said the process of landfall would completely cross the Odisha coast in one or two hours.
He said the “very severe cyclonic storm” was being monitored by the coastal Doppler weather radars at Visakhapatnam, Gopalpur and Paradip.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government claimed to be adequately prepared to tackle the situation. Over 3 lakh people living in low lying areas and kuchha houses in five coastal districts were evacuated ahead of the landfall.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed preparedness at the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office last night. he also reviewed the position of the reservoir and asked the authorities to closely monitor the situation.
Reviewed @SRC_Odisha ‘s preparedness for landfall of #CycloneTitli; with 3 lakh evacuations so far and monitoring of water reservoirs and supply of essential services and goods, we are geared up; urge people to restrain from rumours and panic pic.twitter.com/opnq8PkEug
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) October 10, 2018
SRC Bishnupada Sethi asked collectors of affected districts to ensure the 836 multi-purpose shelters were kept ready to accommodate maximum people.
READ | Cyclone Titli evacuation: Reluctant villagers forced to shift to shelters
As many as 13 NDRF and 9 ODRAF teams have been deployed in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Kendrapada, Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Khordha, Cuttack, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi, Boudh and Sambalpur districts.
Besides, fire service teams had been asked to remain on alert across Odisha.
District Emergency Operation Centres and control rooms of different departments have been activated round the clock.
Cyclone Titli bore a striking similarity to Phailin, the cyclonic storm that had hit Gopalpur on 13 October, 2013. This time, the cyclone has come two days earlier and the intensity is only marginally less as Phailin had a wind speed of over 200 kmph. The other aspects – landfall, districts to be affected ( 13), very heavy rainfall, floods and damages are predicted on similar lines.
The Odisha government had earned international accolades for successful handling of Phailin and evacuation of lakhs of people.
(With agency inputs)