Heavy rainfall and high speed wind has badly affected normal life in Bihar in last 24 hours because of cyclonic storm Phailin impact of cyclonic storm. "More heavy rains are expected in Bihar in next 24 hours," a met department official said.
The Panama registered MV Bingo carrying 8,000 tonne of iron ore was sailing to China after it left the Sagar anchorage on October 11, Kolkata Port Trust Chairman RPS Kahlon said in Kolkata. The ship had left Haldia port on October 8 and went missing on Saturday.
A red-and-white striped lighthouse standing on the popular beach at Gopalpur in Odisha was the lone witness to the fury of the severe cyclone Phailin that virtually drove everyone in this tiny village to desert their homes for the safety of relief shelters.
Bhubaneswar airport too bracing itself for emergency and contingency plans have been drawn up.
Berhampur, the biggest city in southern Odisha, on Monday looked like a war zone as Cyclone Phailin left behind a trail of destruction. The cyclone accompanied by heavy rain hit Gopalpur, about 15 km from Behrampur, and battered the city and its nearby areas.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the Indian Air Force choppers and aircraft and the two navy ships are placed in close proximity to the eastern coastline and would be deployed for rescue and relief operations.
At least 10 persons, including four cops, were injured when police resorted to lathicharge on Tuesday to chase away a mob protesting alleged diversion of kerosene meant for relief at Chikiti in Odisha's cyclone-hit Ganjam district.
Carrying their baggage, thousands of people are leaving the port town of Paradip to escape the wrath of the severe cyclonic storm 'Phailin' which is expected to make landfall in Odisha in less than 24 hours.
Displaced by Cyclone 'Phailin', villagers struggling to cope with the natural calamity are irked over the delay in supply of relief material and complain that children and elders have been going hungry for the last two days.
At least 34 people were killed during Cyclone Fani, which barrelled through coastal Odisha on Friday last, causing widespread destruction and leaving hundreds grappling with water shortage and power cut.
Though flood situation in Odisha's five northen districts triggered by Cyclone Phailin and resultant rains slightly improved on Wednesday, people of 647 villages continued to be marooned, while the death toll in the twin calamities stood at 28.
Exactly a year after the very severe cyclonic storm Phailin struck the state, another storm is heading towards the Odisha coast.
Cyclone Hudhud has moved closer to the cost of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and will turn into a severe cyclonic storm in next 12 hours, the India Meteorological Department said.
Here is a list of previous cyclones that have struck the country.
Very heavy rains are expected over north Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim in the next 48 hours, with cyclonic storm Phailin now closer to the Chattisgarh-Odisha border, the National Disaster Management Authority has said.
Official death toll due to the cyclonic storm has been pegged at 21, nearly 12 million people affected.
With the focus now shifting from disaster mitigation of cyclone to flood relief, the defence ministry on Monday said it has pressed four helicopters into service to evacuate the marooned local population as well as to drop relief materials to Phailin hit areas.
About 2.14 million people were displaced in India last year due to natural disasters, according to a United Nations-backed report which said the country was third after the Philippines and China to record the highest levels of displacement in 2013.
IMD director general Mrutunjay Mohapatra said that cyclone Asani has already achieved maximum stage of intensification and is gradually getting weakened.
Besides strengthening the IMD's infrastructure, Mohapatra said his priority will be to improve the dissemination of weather-related information -- from nowcasts to weather forecasts -- focus on sector-related forecast and give impact-based prediction in all areas.
As the sky turns overcast and torrential rains lash Odisha's Erasama block, Pravati Maity of Jagatsinghpur district is haunted by the painful memories of the 1999 killer cyclone.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
He raised the issue while mocking at the excavation being conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India in Unnao in Uttar Pradesh after a saint said he had dreamt about 1000 tonnes of gold being underneath at a place there.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said rehabilitation is a big challenge for the state government as property valued at several crore of rupees was lost in the cyclone.
The successful effort to combat Cyclone Phailin threatens to put disaster mitigation, and a fundamental overhaul of how disaster management in India is structured, on the back-burner, says Anand Sarkar.
Swarms of ants infested every nook and corner of the village, including houses, roads, fields and trees, throwing the normal lives out of gear. Many have been beaten by these ants, causing swelling and irritation on the skin.
The India Meteorological Department said rainfall would be accompanied by gale wind speed reaching 140 to 150 kmph and gusting to 165 kmph along and off Odisha and north Andhra Pradesh coasts.
This keeps the American aircraft giant on track to deliver five of the large, versatile military transport aircraft to the IAF this year, and five more in 2014.
The Odisha government on Friday said it would prepare a memorandum to seek central assistance in the next two days for relief and restoration works in the cyclone and flood affected districts, even as the death toll in the twin calamities mounted to 44.
The RBI Governor also reiterated his reservation against repeated loan waivers by various state governments, saying the move distorts credit pricing, thereby also disrupting the credit market.
People in coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday as the third cyclonic storm in over a month, which was expected to cause extensive damage, weakened before it hit the state.
An unspecified number of people were evacuated from coastal areas of Odisha where Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore were likely to experience heavy rainfall accompanied by high-velocity winds, particularly on May 19 and 20, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.
As Andhra Pradesh braces to face a cyclone, political activity continues in the background. According to sources, two key leaders of the Congress -- Lagadapati Rajgopal and Rayapati Sambasiva Rao -- are in touch with YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy with an intention of joining his party.
On Saturday, as the sky over Gopalpur gets darker, the howling wind stronger and the waves rise higher, the spectre of death and devastation looms large with most inhabitants having fled fearing cyclone Phailin which is expected to make land fall here.
In his address at a conference of state secretaries, Rajan stressed the need to strengthen state-level coordination committees by ensuring participation, conducting meetings more frequently and sharing quality information among all stakeholders, including state government agencies.
India's manufacturing sector activity contracted for the third straight month in October amid falling levels of production and new orders, as the business climate within the country remained tough, an HSBC survey said on Friday.
Two thermal power stations at Vijayawada and Kadapa went into steam on Friday as power employees in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh resumed work after calling off their indefinite strike "temporarily" in view of cyclonic storm Phailan.
he feels they are prone to misuse by borrowers, including farmers, and suggested a rate ceiling for loans by micro finance lenders.
Generally, a district collector declares crops in his area as being affected due to a catastrophe, which automatically triggers favourable treatment of bank loans, under which the affected dud loans are not treated as bad loans, Rajan said.
Orissa learnt its lessons from previous cyclones, particularly the 1999 super cyclone, whereas Uttarakhand has failed to do so from any of the previous natural calamities that hit the state, says Dinesh C Sharma.
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