Monster storm ‘Titli’ lashes Andhra-Odisha coast

October 11: Monster storm ‘Titli’ has hit coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha with strong winds and heavy rain killing atleast 8 people and leaving lakhs without power on Thursday. “Titli”, which means butterfly in Hindi destroyed huts, uprooted trees, snapped electric and telephone poles. Over three lakh people in Odisha’s five coastal districts have been moved to safety. The cyclone hit the beach town of gopalpur in Odisha between 4:30 and 5:30 this morning.

The weather office said heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places, and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places is very likely in Odisha in the next 24 hours. ‘Titli’, which has been categorised as a “very severe cyclonic storm”, hit the coast with a speed of 140 to 150 kmph, the Met department said. The cyclone is moving towards West Bengal and is expected to weaken gradually with decreasing wind speed. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force have already been positioned in vulnerable districts.

As the landfall process started, the three north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam experienced heavy rains and high-speed gales. And at least five districts — Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur — in Odisha also received rainfall coupled with high-speed winds under the impact of Cyclone Titli.

The East Coast Railway zone of the Indian Railways stopped the movement of all trains on the Chennai-Howrah section from Wednesday afternoon till further orders. Some trains were cancelled too.The railways also suspended trains bound for Srikakulam and the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) also withdrew its bus services covering the cyclone-affected areas and power supply was shut down in the wake of warnings sounded by IMD. The Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar closed its night parking from Wednesday night. Indigo airlines cancelled five of its flights originating from Bhubaneswar.