Cyclone Heading For Odisha? What Does Govt Say

Bhubaneswar: Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) and principal secretary, Disaster Management, Pradip Jena on Friday scotched rumours about a cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea reportedly moving towards Odisha coast making landfall on October 28 doing the rounds on social media.

“There is no possibility of a cyclonic storm in Odisha. I request people to trust the weather forecast of the India Meteorological Department (IMD),” he said.

Since 1999 Super Cyclone, Odisha waits with bated breath for news about possible cyclonic storms in the month of October. Such rumours spread panic among people in coastal Odisha that witnesses early preventive evacuation. And this is what perhaps prompted the government to issue a clarification on it.

On October 12-14, 2013, Very Severe Cyclone Phailin crossed the Odisha coast near Gopalpur. On October 12-14, 2014, Very Severe Cyclone Hudhud crossed Andhra Pradesh at Visakhapatnam and impacted south Odisha. The latest was Titli, another Very Severe Cyclone, that crossed near Palasa in Andhra Pradesh on October 11, 2018, having serious impact on Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts.

The SRC further said that the state was not staring at a flood situation despite heavy rainfall for the last two days.

He said that all major rivers except the Jalaka in Balasore were flowing below the danger level, according to the data received from the Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) from the districts.

Jalaka river was flowing at a height of 6.10 metres as against the danger level of 5.5 metres at Mathani by 9 am on Friday. “We expect the water level to come down gradually as the rainfall activity in the district has substantially decreased since last night,” he added.

Stating that there has been an overall improvement in the weather condition in the state from this morning, he said there was no report of any casualty in the last 24 hours.