Bhubaneswar, Oct 28 (PTI) Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday said Odisha escaped major damage from severe cyclonic storm Montha, which made landfall on the Andhra Pradesh coast around 7 pm, bringing relief to the state even as precautionary measures remained in force.
Majhi, who reviewed the post-landfall situation at the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) control room here, said there were only reports of minor landslides and uprooting of trees in some areas.
“Barring some stray cases of landslide and tree felling, there has been no major incident even after three hours of landfall. The damages reported so far are much less than our anticipation,” Majhi told reporters, thanking Lord Jagannath for sparing the state from a major calamity.
The chief minister spent over an hour at the SDMA control room, taking feedback from collectors of eight southern districts — Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi and Kandhamal — where a ‘red alert’ had been issued in view of the cyclone.
Majhi said the state was keeping close watch as Montha moved inland.
The chief minister pointed out that it did not rain as expected.
“Gajapati and Ganjam districts recorded 115 mm rainfall each against the forcast of over 200 mm rainfall. Malkangiri district, which is close to the cyclone’s landfall area in Andhra Pradesh, also did not receive heavy rain,” Majhi pointed out adding that the government was keeping a tight vigil on the situation.
The chief minister said 17,817 people had been evacuated to more than 2,000 cyclone shelters against the initial target of 32,000.
“The major relief is that there has been no report of any casualty so far,” he said.
A total of 2,198 pregnant women were shifted to hospitals and another 651 identified for possible transfer if required, he added.
Majhi said 153 rescue teams comprising personnel from NDRF, ODRAF and Fire Services would remain stationed in vulnerable districts until the system completely moved out of the state.
“Whatever the impact may be, the government will remain on alert and coordinate with all stakeholders to manage the situation,” he said.
The chief minister said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had spoken to him about the cyclone situation.
“I told him that the impact of the cyclone was far less than expected. He also said the damages in Andhra Pradesh were minimal. Hence, the Railways is considering restoration of train services that were earlier cancelled,” Majhi said.
He said Odisha is a natural calamity prone state and therefore its experience in handling such situations helped to mitigate the disaster.
“Odisha’s disaster management has earned praise across the globe,” the chief minister said.
Meanwhile, IMD at its bulletin at 10.30 PM said Montha’s ongoing landfall process will continue for next 2-3 hours.
“The system is currently being monitored continuously by Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam in addition to coastal observatories, automatic weather stations (AWSs), ships & buoys and satellites,” the IMD said. PTI AAM RG AAM MNB
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