Day 2 — Orissa still marooned

Bhubaneswar continues to be cut off from the rest of the country. Large parts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack and Khurda districts are submerged, Paradip port has suffered heavy damage and many coastal villages feared washed away in tidal waves.

The super cyclonic storm which hit Orissa coast at Paradip did not move in the northerly direction as predicted and lay centred at Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. The wind speed was close to 300 kmph at Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada, while in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar it was around 240 kmph.

Though the storm subsided around noon of Saturday, heavy rain continued till Sunday morning, making itimpossible to undertake any rescue and relief operations. Three battalions of the Army who reached the state on Saturday could not commence their operation until Sunday afternoon.

The rescue and relief operations are likely to be affected further as the cyclonic storm has weakened to a depression and is expected to be centrered in Chandbali, Balasore district. Heavy rain is forecast by the Met office.

Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik told The Indian Express that at least 1.5 crore people have been affected and 40 to 50 lakh houses destroyed. The number of dead will be in thousands, he added. Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang today made an aerial survey of the cyclone affected Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara and Paradip areas.

All big trees have been uprooted in Bhubaneswar, telephone and electricity lines have been damaged. The state secretariat, the Assembly buildings and other big buildings are damaged beyond recognition. Most of the slums in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack cities have been washed away.

D KBasu, senior project manager in BE Engineers at Paradip, said that all plant installations in the town have been extensively damaged. Trawlers have been damaed and slums washed away. Basu returned to Bhubaneswar.Basu said that he moved to the second floor when the ground floor was submerged in flood waters. He said that water has started receding from Madhuban and Nuabazaar areas in the town.

Though the Ministry of Communication announced today that links between Bhubaneswar-Cuttack and New Delhi have been re-established, almost all lines remained dead except perhaps the Chief Minister’s satellite phone link. Information was hard to come by as villages remain cut off from the urban centres.

The Army began opening up main road links and naval craft were sailing in as rescue work was in full swing in the coastal areas. The Sambalpur-Cuttack and Balasore-Bhubaneswar National Highways were partially cleared by the Army. Colonel S Chauhan, Commander of the Gorkha Regiment, told PTI, “Our troops have not beenable to reach Balasore as a key connecting bridge has been washed away.”

Heavy downpour since early yesterday has made the problem worse even as more and more people were leaving their broken houses to come out on the roads. “Some had to remain perched on the roofs for over 24 hours and we have just begun rescuing them,” Chauhan said, adding Army radio reports suggested that 5,000 to 7,000 people were still marooned in a particular pocket in Balasore.

The National Highway No 60 linking Kharagpur to Khurda in Orissa was also affected. A large number of Balasore-bound passengers who had alighted at Rupsa station were stranded with no vehicle in sight.

The real scenes of devastation unfolded near Balasore with overflowing river Budha Balanga inundating vast areas of standing crops while gale winds had uprooted trees and electricity poles on both sides of NH-5.

Villagers in the area whose huts were blown off by the storm were taking shelter in tiny tents along the National Highway with no signs ofrelief coming their way.

Twenty-four-year-old Harihar Parida, an LIC agent whose house was inundated, has had to fend for himself under the open sky on NH-5 since yesterday without food and water. “The local police promised to bring food and water for us last evening, but have not returned till noon today. No government official has come to the spot yet. The continuing rains have made life very difficult for us,” said Parida. In his village Nuagaon, which he had to flee, over 400 huts were completely blown away with the gales.

Hundreds of hutments lay devastated in a sea of flood water on both sides of the road. People shivering in makeshift tents, women wading through waist-deep water in quest of drinking water, helpless villagers sitting desolate in school buildings are common sights.

Said Bima Naik recounted the cyclone of 1971. “The cyclone that year was in no way comparable to this. I only had to spend a couple of days on the roof of my house but this time I am homeless, living under the opensky".

Coast Guard vessels continued search operations overnight in the turbulent seas off Orissa’s coast to find the 38 fishing boats missing after Friday’s cyclone. “The two ships have found neither any body nor any of the boats, except the broken one which was spotted yesterday,” Coast Guard Deputy Commandant I.S. Chowhan said. “The sea there is rough to very rough. We are facing problems due to stormy sea, rains and gusty wind,” he said.

Meanwhile, Air and railway links between Calcutta and Bhubaneswar remained disrupted for the third day. Airlines authorities here said services could be resumed tomorrow subject to clearance from the Bhubaneswar airport authorities. Indian Airlines (IA) will operate two special flights to Bhubaneswar at 07.00 hrs and 10.30 hrs tomorrow, an IA official said.