Bhubaneswar: As Cyclone Fani wreaked havoc in parts of Puri and Ganjam districts in the wake of its landfall, Odisha capital Bhubaneswar witnessed rain and strong winds on Friday morning. The wind speed reached 100 kmph and was likely to increase over the next few hours, official sources said. According to government sources, no damage, except uprooting of trees, had been reported in the capital city so far but increase in wind speed might cause destruction to kutcha houses and public infrastructure.
Trees were broken or uprooted at several places including near the OSAP battalion near Kalinga Hospital Square. The local administration had started shifting people living in slums to government buildings and started making preparations to run free kitchens.
Official sources said massive preparedness and action plan had been put in place for evacuation, rescue and execution operations. Emphasis was being laid on evacuation, road clearance, drainage de-siltation, restoration of power supply for emergency operations and telecommunication networks, sources added. The administration has also started a toll-free number 18003450061 and landline 0674-2431253 for immediate grievance redressal. A multi-agency control room has also started functioning at Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation ((BMC) from Thursday evening to coordinate grievances in the city. To prevent panic buying, the administration is keeping an eye on possible hoarders of essential commodities.
An official release said BMC has started cleaning and de-silting the major storm water drainage channels and major drains so that during heavy or very heavy rainfall the runoff water can easily flow into Gangua nullah, the water sink of the city flowing around it, which ultimately unites with the Daya river.
Under the evacuation plan, two cyclone shelters have been readied in each ward where the evacuated people would be given shelter. In the cyclone shelters there would be adequate supply of medicine, food and water.
The city’s urban pockets have been divided into 13 sectors, Infocity, Xavier, Vani Vihar, Kuakhai, Khandagiri, ISKCON area, OUAT, Airport, Smart District Area, Sachivalaya Marg, Cuttack Road, Kalpana
and Lingaraj. An OAS officer will function as sector officer with an engineer (civil) and another from drainage. The sectoral officer will have the powers to take a call on emergency situations arising out of Cyclone Fani and recommend appropriate actions. The affected roads would be cleared with sufficient deployment of people/ workers under the supervision of a nodal officer. There will also be a drainage engineer who, in consultation with the team will decide on the positioning of the pumps and low-lying areas.
