Exactly a year after the devastated cyclone Phailin, Odisha is now going to face another cyclonic storm ‘Hudhud”. The Met department has said that a deep depression formed over the north Andaman Sea and heading towards northern Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast is set to take the shape of a cyclonic storm this evening.
It will intensify over the next few days and is expected to make landfall on Sunday, October 12. The likely time and place of landfall is as yet unclear.
Hudhud is not expected to be as severe as Phailin. The Met department said the maximum wind speed that the storm is expected to generate is 145 km per hour on Sunday. Phailin had touched a maximum speed of 210-220 kmph as it hit shore.
Heavy rain is predicted in parts of Odisha in the next few days.
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However, Chief Minisrter Naveen Patnaik has taken stock of the situation and ordered all the concerned department and officials to take precautionary measures.
The state government has asked 16 district administrations to be on high alert for the possible cyclonic storm Hudhud. Besides, the ODRAF and fire department have been told to remain prepared for relief and rescue operation.
It has been decided to call the officials who are on leave. All the officers have been asked to remain present at their respective places.
The 16 districts to be on alert are Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurdha, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak,Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Malkangiri and Koraput.
The Naveen government had last year won praise from the United Nations for its “effective” management of Phailin, which had hit Odisha’s coast on October 12. The UN had said its handling of the cyclone would be a “landmark success story in disaster management.”
As many as 9,885 people had died in the super cyclone that hit Odisha’s coast in 1999, while 21 people lost their lives in cyclone-related incidents last year.
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