Cyclone weakens, heads towards Bihar plateau

Heavy rains paralysed life in the coastal districts. Bhubaneswar remained without power since morning with several uprooted trees blocking roads. Several trains had been either cancelled or detained.

Met office in Bhubaneswar said although the cyclone had crossed the coast in Paradip, the wind speed was likely to increase till late Friday evening.

Reports about damage to houses, power and telecom installations were received from Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj.

Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, who has been constantly monitoring the situation, contacted the Prime Minister seeking immediate release of the Rs 50 crore aid announced by him towards cyclone relief measures during his recent visit to the state.

Gamang said the state government might require upto Rs 500 crore to provide relief to the victims of Friday’s super cyclone. The state had already been hit by a cyclone in its southern coast barely ten days ago. He said the state government had taken all possible precautionary measures including evacuation of people from low-lying areas and storing relief material in the affected pockets.

The Government had sought the assistance of Army and Air Force helicopters for undertaking relief measures which are likely to reach the state on Saturday, Gamang said. Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik said extensive damage had been caused to the Port installations.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government on Friday suspended evacuation operations in the coastal areas with the possibility of a cyclone diminishing, but said the general alert in six vulnerable South Bengal districts would continue and the Army would remain on standby.

State Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said as per the latest information received by the Government, the cyclonic storm had hit Paradip in Orissa around 10 am and was moving in a North-westerly direction. Gale speed would remain below 100 kmph and the possibilty of high tide had also diminished considerably, he said, adding that no more evacuation was necessary under the present situation.

Altogether 48,000 people were evacuated on Thursday from the coastal areas of Sagar island, Ghoramara island, Contai, Digha and Ramnagar, he said.

Dasgupta, however, said that the general alert would continue in North and South 24-Parganas, Calcutta, Midnapore, Howrah and Hooghly districts which were likely to be lashed by heavy rains.

A report from coastal Midnapore district said 15 persons were hospitalised following house collapses at Nandigram block 3 and Khejuri block 2. Digha and Contai towns were experiencing downpour since morning.

Patharpratima, Kakdwip and its adjoining areas in the riverine Sundarbans in South 24 parganas district were also lashed with wind accompanied by rains. According to Dasgupta the Government had allotted funds for buying 3,000 tarpaulin sheets in the affected areas.

Chief Minister Jyoti Basu expressed relief that the State had been spared of a devastating cyclonic storm. Stating that he was informed by the Centre on Thursday that the storm was likely to hit the state on Friday, Basu said, “It feels good that the storm has spared us.”