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Cyclone Phailin with a windspeed of 220 kmph is turning into a super cyclone before making landfall tomorrow evening near Gopalpur in Odisha where the Government has galvanised its machinery to deal with its impact and is evacuating people from low-lying areas.
“The US Navy has also forecast that the wind speed will be above 240 kmph. Therefore, the cyclone is not less than any super cyclone for us,” Special Relief Commissioner P. K. Mohapatra said.
He said though the IMD yesterday indicated that the wind speed would be limited to 185 kmph, it was now forecasting it at 220 kmph.
Mohapatra said the IMD had declared the 1999 calamity as a super cyclone as the wind speed had crossed 220 kmph.
“This time around, the wind speed is not much different than the previous super cyclone,” he said.
Squalls with a wind speed of 45—55 kmph to 65 kmph have already started along the Odisha coast since morning.
"It would increase in intensity with gale wind speeds reaching 210-220 kmph along and off south Odisha at the time of landfall,” the IMD said in a bulletin categorised as an Orange Message.
It would make landfall near Gopalpur in Ganjam district tomorrow evening after crossing an area between Paradip in Odisha and Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
The IMD said the cyclone over east central Bay of Bengal remained stationary and lay 520 km south-southeast of Paradip and 530 km southeast of Gopalpur.
The IMD forecast a storm surge of 2.5 metre to 3.0 metre in Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts.
A storm surge is a rise of the sea as a result of atmospheric pressure changes and winds associated with a storm.
Local Cautionary (LC-III) has been hoisted in all the ports in the state.The Navy, Airforce, NDRF and ODRF were ready for relief and rescue operations as soon as the cyclone hits the coast, Mohapatra said.
A worried State Government held meetings and evaluated the changed circumstances.
“At least 28 teams of the National Disaster Response Forces are at the disposal of the Odisha Government for evacuation and relief operations,” a senior official said after one such meeting.
So far eight teams of the NDRF, each having 20 personnel, have been deployed in Puri district, the official said.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister S. N. Patro said District Collectors have been told to complete evacuation of people by this evening.
"We do not want to take any chance," Patro said, adding that shelters were ready.
Appealing to the people not to panic, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asked them to cooperate with the Government in relief and rescue operations.
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