Cyclone Phailin, with wind speeds touching 210-220 km per hour, is set to hit the Odisha coast between Paradip and Kalingapatnam with full force on Saturday evening and whip up a storm surge of up to 10 feet above the tide level, posing a threat to low-lying villages.
Anticipating the cyclone’s fury, the state government began Odisha’s biggest ever evacuation of more than three lakh people as chief minister Naveen Patnaik promised there would be zero casualties. The evacuation is expected to be completed by Saturday morning.
Met sources said the cyclone’s landfall is likely to be around the popular beach destination of Gopalpur. Inland areas are expected to receive heavy rainfall, likely to last till Sunday.
Although the Met is not categorizing Phailin as a “super cyclone” as it is yet to cross the 220 kmph barrier, there is little doubt that Odisha is bracing for a battering with the storm reported just 400 km south east of Gopalpur at 9 pm on Friday.
Foreign agencies claimed Indian authorities were underestimating Phailin, quoting London-based Tropical Storm and US Navy’s joint typhoon warning centre as forecasting winds up to 315 kmph. Indian agencies, however, maintained that wind speeds so far were much lower.
The impact of Phailin is expected to be narrow-focused, increasing the prospects of localized damage although a part of the impact zone is hilly and can help dissipate the storm. While the area under threat is not heavily built-up, there are large fishing communities exposed to the storm fury. If the storm’s arrival coincides with high tide, the water levels will be higher.
Met Dept predicts max gale force of 235 kmph but international storm watchers say winds could go up to 315 kmph, making Phailin worse than Hurricane Katrina, and the strongest ever in the Indian Ocean
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