An uprooted lamp post along Puri beach. Picture by Sanjoy Ghosh

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 15: Travis Kent, 30, and Francis White, 55, both tourists from the US, could hardly imagine that they would have to end their Gopalpur beach sojourn on October 11 afternoon.

Hotel employees told the tourists to leave the town for Bhubaneswar, as Phailin was to hit the coast on the night of October 12.

“Our main concern was to safely reach Bhubaneswar, so that we can fly away from the cyclone-hit area. We reached here on Friday evening. But on Saturday, the flight services were cancelled in the face of the storm,” said Kent. Both boarded in a hotel near Master Canteen and were waiting for the flight services to be restored on Sunday.

Suman Bhattacharya, 35, from Calcutta said he had come to visit Puri with his wife and two kids, but had a horrible time when the cyclone hit the coast. “As our room was on the fifth floor of the hotel we did not bother much. But on Saturday, the power went off. Besides, we could not venture out from Friday evening till Sunday morning as it was raining,” said Bhattacharya . His family left for Calcutta on Sunday as they heard the road communication was not affected much with rescue teams clearing all the paths immediately.

The Ganjam district administration had asked the Gopalpur hotels to make alternate arrangements in other towns, the Puri district administration said they had only instructed the tourists not to venture out on Saturday evening and night.

Ramakrushna Das Mohapatra, president of hotel association of Puri said they had made alternative arrangements. “Many tourists panicked and left. After two days of the cyclone hitting the state the occupancy is still around 40 per cent,” he said.

Puri tourist officer Bijay Jena said they had asked the hotel employees to shift guests higher from ground and first floor. “But, many tourists, out of fear, either returned home, or went to Bhubaneswar or other places,” he said, adding that all the 437 hotels and other registered accommodations were almost filled during this Puja vacation.The Bhubaneswar hotels were filled with panic-struck tourists from the coastal parts. On October 11 and 12, many rooms were booked in these hotels. Besides many bookings were cancelled after the train and flight services were cancelled on October 12.

Taxi operators charged exorbitant fares, but tourists opted leaving Odisha by road.

A Puri hotel official today said the booking was on. However, Gopalpur that was among the worst hit towns still remains cut off, as restoration of electricity, telephone and other facilities will take time.