No casualties reported so far due to cyclone: NDRF chief

The National Disaster Response Force today said no casualties have been reported so far due to Cyclone ‘Phailin’ which hit the Odisha coast.

“Our teams are out in both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on rescue and relief operations. So far we have not received any report of casualties anywhere,” NDRF chief Krishna Chowdhary told PTI here.

More than 3,000 personnel of the NDRF have been deployed in both the States and efforts are on to rescue those who were trapped under the debris.

He said there were two reports from Andhra Pradesh of some people being trapped and NDRF teams have rushed to the spot to rescue them.

The NDRF chief said initial reports suggested that buildings and some communication towers were destroyed due to the impact of the cyclone.

Chowdhary said yesterday five persons lost their lives in Odisha due to the collapse of a building but the incident took place before the cyclone made landfall.

Powerful Cyclone Phailin, the worst since the disastrous super-cyclone of 1999, pounded the Odisha coast last night, bringing in its wake torrential rains and wind speeds of over 200 kmph in the State and in neighbouring north coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Vast swathes of the coastal districts of Odisha, especially Ganjam, whose Gopalpur-on-sea was the entry point for the storm, were engulfed in darkness as trees and electric poles were felled by the cyclone. Terrified people were forced to remain indoors on account of the heavy rains and vehicular traffic had come to a grinding halt.

More than half a million people were evacuated by the authorities from vulnerable areas in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in one of the biggest such exercises.

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