Bhubaneswar, Oct. 15: The sense of foreboding notwithstanding, there was nothing unpredictable about cyclone Phailin with weather experts forecasting its course and ferocity rather accurately.
The same was, however, not true of the super cyclone which hit the state 14 years ago leaving behind an unprecedented trail of death and destruction. Widely believed to be the biggest human tragedy of the last century, it had evoked a numbing sense of fear and disbelief among those who witnessed it.
Forecasters had gone so horribly wrong in their predictions about the ferocity of the typhoon when it struck the coast on October 29, 1999, that they didn’t know where to hide their faces.
The maximum wind velocity predicted by weather experts 12 hours before the hurricane reached Odisha was 200km and the then government did not take it too seriously as the region is used to natural calamities such as cyclones and floods.
What followed, however, was apocalypse even beyond the imagination of the habitual doomsayers.
Officially, 9,885 people were killed in the supercyclone, which caused flash floods in several areas with 45 to 95cm of rainfall recorded in many areas of the 14 affected coastal districts. Among the cities, the state capital, over which the gale was stationary for around three hours, was one of the worst hit.
With swirling winds churning the sea, tidal surges of about 7 to 10 meters high were witnessed on the coast in 1999.
Waves in several parts of districts such as Kendrapara and Balasore swept 40 to 50 km inland causing extensive damage. The intensity of Phailin was comparatively much less with maximum wind speed reported being 200km and tidal surges rising upto three metres in the worst hit areas.
A major difference between the two disasters lay in the reactions of the governments handling them. So numbing was the impact of the 1999 hurricane and the enormity of the relief and rescue challenge that it presented that then Congress government led by Giridhar Gamang was rendered virtually comatose for about 12 hours after the twister struck the state. Nothing moved in the state during those crucial hours, not even the relief trucks parked outside the chief minister’s residence.
Finally when they did leave for their destinations, they were looted by rioting mobs on the way.
Armed with the experience of the past and with a much superior technology at its command, the Naveen Patnaik government has dealt with Phailin much more efficiently minimising the damage to the maximum possible. While complaints of relief not reaching people have been few and far between this time, the change that the state has seen since the super cyclone has been a change for the better.