300,000 evacuated as Titli hits India |
Rescue workers evacuate people from flooded areas after the opening of Idamalayr, Cheruthoni and Mullaperiyar dam gates following heavy rains, on the outskirts of Kochi, India, August 16, 2018. — Reuters pic Cyclone Titli made landfall near Gopalpur on India’s east coast, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported. The Odisha state government evacuated more than 300,000 people from five coastal districts on Wednesday while local schools, colleges and childcare centres were ordered closed and fishermen advised not to go out to sea, AFP reports. “We have already evacuated three lakh (300,000) people and more may be shifted to safer places in view of the very severe cyclone,” PTI quoted Odisha’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as saying. There were no deaths reported but trees and electricity poles were uprooted, officials told PTI, with roads and makeshift mud-brick houses also damaged. The weather system was expected to curve to the northeast and weaken gradually, India’s weather bureau said. |