India cyclone: Hundreds of thousands flee homes as deadly winds hit

Nine dead as Cyclone Titli fells power lines and brings flooding to eastern states

Cyclone Titli wrecked homes, destroyed power lines and brought flooding to eastern India, where at least nine people were killed and about 300,000 were forced to move to higher ground.

The severe cyclone saw winds speeds of up to 100 mph as it made landfall on Thursday, wreaking havoc in coastal districts of Orissa state and northern parts of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state.

Eight people died from drowning, wall collapses and fallen trees in Andhra Pradesh alone, according to the state’s labour minister Kinjarapu Acchan Naidu.

Uprooted electricity pylons and other debris blocked roads and hampered emergency work in the state. TV footage showed the tin roofs of several houses being blown away.

“We fear 6,000-7,000 electricity poles may have been uprooted,” said K. Dhananjaya Reddy, a district administrator in Andhra Pradesh.

“Around 400,000 to 500,000 people are now without electricity.”

In Orissa state, an eight-year-old boy drowned in a flooded canal in Ganjam district, where five people were also reported missing after being swept away by flood waters, the Press Trust of India reported.

The district’s administrator Vijay Amruta said the five people swept away by the floods had been returning home from a cyclone shelter. Rescue workers in the area have been searching for them.

Schools were closed and the authorities in both states also set up more than 800 shelters stocked with food and relief materials in cyclone-hit areas.

Electricity and telephone services were cut in a number of areas in both states. Air and train travel was also restricted.

Cyclone Titli weakened by the end of Thursday, with wind speed reducing to 45mph. The cyclone is expected to become a deep depression on Friday, according to India’s Meteorological Department.

Orissa state is prone to cyclones developing in the Bay of Bengal. In 1999, a particularly devastating cyclone killed more than 15,000 people.

Bangladesh’s coastal districts were also warned to prepare for possible storm effects there. Boats were ordered ashore and inland ferries were told to suspend services.

Additional reporting by agencies