Over 3 lakh people were evacuated from six coastal districts of Odisha and high alert sounded in 12 other districts on Tuesday as cyclone Amphan, despite being weakened into an extremely severe cyclonic storm, packed enough force to pulverise coastal districts of the state.
Cyclone Amphan had turned into a super cyclonic storm from an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Monday, only the second such tropical storm over the Bay of Bengal in two decades, before getting somewhat enfeebled.
A major evacuation was from Kendrapara and Balasore districts of Odisha.
The Odisha government had set a target to evacuate about 11 lakh from most-affected districts. Besides, the state government is targeting the evacuation of one lakh people from vulnerable areas to shelter homes.
“Till Tuesday evening, we evacuated 30,000 persons. Cooked food has been served to those evacuated in Kendrapara,” Kendrapara Collector Samant Verma told India Today TV.
Odisha Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Kumar Jena on Tuesday asked all district collectors to make arrangements for the stay of migrant returnees, belonging to coastal districts that likely to be affected by cyclone Amphan.
With cyclone Amphan expected to wreak havoc in North Odisha and cause extensive damage to electricity and telecommunication network in the state and West Bengal, arrangements for the restoration of these essential services post-cyclone have been made.
Extensive damage is predicted that may devastate old pucca houses in the vulnerable areas. All shipping operations have been warned to completely stay off. Everyone from the affected areas has been warned to stay indoors.
Leave a Reply