Picture Courtesy : Twitter
The process of landfall of the very severe cyclone Titli started early Thursday with surface wind reaching speeds of 126 kmph at Gopalpur in Odisha’s Ganjam district, the India Meteorological Department said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik posted on Twitter reviewing the Cyclone Titli preparations
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
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has geared up its machinery to tackle the situation. The state government has already evacuated over 3 lakh people living in low lying areas and kuchha houses ahead of the landfall in five coastal districts.
“The process of landfall has started and it will completely cross the Odisha coast in one or two hours. The system will pass close to Gopalpur,” said H R Biswas, Director of Metereological Centre, Bhubaneswar.
The IMD said, “The forward sector of the eye of the storm has been entering into the land mass.”
While Gopalpur in Odisha reported surface winds at 126 kmph and even reaching as high as 170 Kmph Kalingapatanam in Andhra Pradesh recorded wind speed of 56 kmph.
As the landfall process started, at least five districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur are receiving good amount of rainfall coupled with high speed winds under the impact of Titli.
Reports of trees, electric poles getting uprooted and damages to kuchha houses were reported, officials said, adding that road communication in some places, including Gopalpur and Berhampur, was snapped.
