Cyclone Phailin Packs Power on Landfall
NEW DEHLI – International – Eight hundred thousand people were evacuated as Cyclone Phailin approached India’s coastline. The monster storm raged ashore washing away thousands of homes, knocking out power and communications. The storm has also resulted in reports of deaths.
Twenty people so far have been reported dead as a result of the storm. The death total includes five people who died in the coastal city of Gopalpur. Reports are that most died from tree falls in the hours before the storm landed.
Cyclone Phailin is expected to drop up to 25 centimetres of rain over the area as it moves inland.
The death toll is far less than a storm that hammered the same area of the Indian coastline in 1999 when a storm killed 10,000 people.
Speedy response to evacuation orders in India have helped to reduce the death toll.
The India Meterological Service appears at 07:30EDT to have been impacted. Some of the website features are not available.
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