Cyclone Titli weakens, flood and rain warnings issued across Odisha, AP

BHUBHANESHWAR: Severe cyclonic storm Titli claimed eight lives and left a trail of havoc on Thursday after unleashing havoc in north coastal Andhra Pradesh and south coastal Odisha. Though the cyclone is now weakening, authorities warned of flood and asked citizens to stay away from affected areas.

#CycloneTitli #CycloneTitliAlert#Odisha #Kolkata #Andamans #Lakshadweep #TamilNadu #Chennai #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/lE3PARF6u6 — NDMA India (@ndmaindia) October 11, 2018

The cyclone, which made landfall between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on Thursday morning, caused widespread rains in the two states, uprooted trees, electricity poles, communication towers, damaged houses and crops and snapped electricity supply. Rains were also reported from parts of West Bengal and Jharkhand. 

The weakened cyclonic storm is now moving northeastwards towards Gangetic West Bengal across Odisha, said the IMD. 

The National Disaster Management Authority issued a series of dos and donts as the cyclone hit the coastal areas.

In all, eight districts – Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore -- were affected by the cyclonic storm, Special Relief Commissioner B P Sethi said. 

"There has been no major destruction or report of casualty from any part of the state so far. Some damages like uprooting of trees and electric poles and damage to hutments were reported from Ganjam and Gajapati districts," he said. 

Power supply and telephone links got disrupted, and road communication snapped due to uprooted trees at many places in Gajapati district, Sethi said, adding efforts are now on to clear the blocked roads and to restore power supply in affected areas.