Cyclone Titli: 8 dead in Andhra Pradesh, one in Odisha; rain alert in parts of Jharkhand

The 'very severe' cyclonic storm 'Titli', which hit coastal areas of northern Andhra Pradesh, leaving eight people dead and several injured, now started intensifying in several parts of Jharkhand. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy to very heavy rainfall will continue in north-east districts of Jharkhand till Friday. The deadly storm, which uprooted trees and electric poles, damaging hutments in Odisha's Ganjam and Gajapati districts, claimed one life so far in the state. To our great relief, Cyclone 'Titli', which made the landfall with an estimated maximum sustained surface wind speed of 140-150 km per hour, now started coming down to 50-60 km/hour. The death-dealing cyclone is expected to prevail till Thursday evening and maybe for some time after night across Andhra Pradesh, officials at Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre said. Furthermore, Cyclone 'Titli' is likely to move north-westwards till Thursday evening and then recurve north-eastwards towards Gangetic West Bengal, weakening gradually into a deep depression by Friday morning, the weatherman added.

In the wake of this natural disaster, thirteen teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in vulnerable areas along with fire brigade personnel. Over three lakh people have been moved to safe places which helped avoid loss of life in the calamity. The evacuees are housed in 1,112 shelters where food and sanitation facilities are available.

Here are the Highlights on Cyclonic storm 'Titli':