DHAKA: The Phailin cyclone, that has brought Odisha bitter memories of a similar 1999 disaster that killed 10,000 people, is apprehended to hit landfall at Gopalpur Saturday evening.

The sea has turned turbulent forcing the fishing vessels that had ventured into the deep sea to return, while authorities are busy trucking thousands of villagers from their mud and thatch coastal homes to government shelters inland.

Five villages in Khurda inundated by Devi river’s waters, two in Ganjam district by sea water and three by spillover from Chilika Lake before Phailin hit the coast

About five lakh people evacuated from 7 Odisha districts, 2 lakh of them from Ganjam alone as cyclone approaches.

Even before the cyclonic storm made a landfall, Puri and Gopalpur were hit by very high speed winds – 120km per hour in Puri and 150km per hour in Gopalpur.

 Flight operations are badly affected in Bhubaneswar and Vishakhapatnam. Almost all airlines cancelled flights operating to the two cities.

Earlier reports said, three died after uprooted trees fell on them, due to heavy rainfall and strong winds.

BDST: 2106 HRS, OCT 12, 2013
RoR/RIS