Hudhud roaring towards Odisha coast; 3.5 lakh being evacuated

Two flights and 39 trains on the route have been cancelled

• Malkangiri, likely to the worst hit, is experiencing heavy rainfall
• Rain may be in range of 10 cm to 25 cm from Sunday afternoon
• State has received 14 satellite phones and 8 more NDRF teams
• Evacuation of endangered Bonda tribals begins in several areas
• Heavy rainfall in parts of West Bengal from Sunday: Met Dept

Bhubaneswar: With Cyclone Hudhud roaring towards the Odisha coast, the state government began evacuating people from vulnerable areas to minimise casualties even as two flights and 39 trains on the route were cancelled.

"The collectors of eight districts - Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kalahandi and Kandhamal have been on the job to shift people from vulnerable areas to safe places," Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Mohapatra said.

Rains have been reported from some areas, mostly in the southern region but there was no report of any major damage so far, sources in the SRC said.

Malkangiri, which is likely to the worst hit, is experiencing heavy rainfall and strong winds have been reported from it. One 'kuchha' house at Gudguta village was damaged as a tree fell on it but there was no report of any casualty from anywhere in the district.

Mohapatra said about 3.5 lakh people, including those living in the coast of Ganjam are being evacuated and the district authorities have been asked to start a free kitchen. The district authorities have also been asked to stock adequate quantities of dryfood.

The government has deployed 25 units - 15 of NDRF and 10 of ODRF, each comprising 40 personnel, besides fire service men in vulnerable places in different parts of the state, the SRC said.

As cyclone and flood situations are new for the tribal population in these districts, the administration is facing difficulty convincing the people to shift.

"The rainfall could be in the range of 10 cm to 25 cm within a span of only 36 hours from Sunday afternoon," said Mohapatra, the SRC.

He said besides the eight identified districts, many other places would also receive rainfall from Sunday afternoon till Monday afternoon as per the IMD prediction.

Preparations were ready to deal with possible flood in rivers like Rushikulya, Bamsadhara and Nagavali due to heavy rains that would accompany the cyclone.

The chief secretary said the Centre has assured the state government to keep some choppers ready at Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal for air dropping of food packets in the affected areas.

The state has received 14 satellite phones and the Centre has also send eight more NDRF teams as per its request, he said.

The state government has cancelled holidays (second Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) and all offices of the state government, including PSUs will remain open.

According to the latest bulletin of IMD here the very severe cyclonic storm is now lying within the range of Doppler weather radar, Visakhapatnam and is being tracked by it since Saturday morning in addition to satellite and other observational tools.

As per IMD's latest observations, Cyclone Hudhud has moved west northwestwards during the past six hours and lay centered about 380 km south-southeast of Gopalpur in the Bay of Bengal at 5.30 am on Saturday.

Heavy rainfall may lash parts of West Bengal from Sunday for three days under the impact the Very Severe Cyclonic Storm 'Hudhud', according to the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) here.

The routes of seven trains — Dibrugarh-Bangalore City Jn Express, Kamakhya-Bangalore Cantt. Premium Exp, the Secunderabad -Guwahati Exp, the Guwahati-Chennai Egmore Exp, Yesvantpur Jn-Kamakhya Exp, the Yesvantpur Jn-Bhagalpur Anga Exp and the Chennai Central-Asansol Exp — have been diverted, a ER release said.

The shifting of endangered Bonda tribesmen has begun from their age-old habitats on the Bonda hills in Malkangiri district, which is anticipated to be the worst affected in the Cyclone Hudhud.