Cyclone Titli hits Odisha, Andhra Pradesh coasts; flights cancelled, shops damaged

Lakhs of people living near the coastal areas of Odisha have been evacuated and shifted to safer places as very severe category cyclone Titli made landfall at Gopalpur in the state's coastal Ganjam district on Thursday morning. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds at the speed of 126 kmph were reported in Gopalpur. Meanwhile, in Andhra Pradesh, Kalingapatanam recorded surface winds at the speed of 56 kmph.

The very severe cyclonic storm did not have much effect in West Bengal following its landfall, but the southern districts of the state are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rain as it is may turn towards Gangetic West Bengal, officials said.

The storm is likely to move northwestwards till Thursday evening and then recurve northeastwards towards Gangetic West Bengal, weakening gradually into a deep depression by Friday morning, the weatherman said.

Cyclone Titli Updates:

# Flights cancelled, shops damaged: Five flights scheduled to take-off from Bhubaneshwar today have been cancelled. Many shops destroyed in Odisha due to the high speed of the wind accompanying Cyclone Titli.

# Watch video: Cyclone Titli making landfall at Odisha coast on Thursday morning.

#WATCH: Early morning visuals of #TitliCyclone making landfall in Srikakulam's Vajrapu Kotturu. #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/x7H4yoF7ez

— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2018

# Eye of Titli: Eye of Cyclone Titli as visible from Gopalpur radar at 01:30 am today.

#Eye of #Cyclone #Titli as visible from #Gopalpur radar at 01:30 am today. @SkymetWeather pic.twitter.com/uetcG7izrZ

— Mahesh Palawat (@Mpalawat) October 11, 2018

# Early preparedness avoids damage in Odisha: A day before the landfall of cyclone Titli, Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha evacuated three lakh people from five coastal districts  - Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara - which avoided any loss of life and damage to property.

# Visuals from Ganjam's Gopalpur: Cyclone Titli made landfall in the region at 5:30 am today. 10,000 people from low lying areas had been evacuated to govt shelters till last night.

#Visuals from Ganjam's Gopalpur after #TitliCyclone made landfall in the region at 5:30 am today. 10,000 people from low lying areas had been evacuated to govt shelters till last night. #Odisha pic.twitter.com/HEYog0DNe7

— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2018

# Very severe category Cyclone Titli hits Odisha coast: "The process of landfall has started and it will completely cross the Odisha coast in one or two hours. The system will pass close to Gopalpur," PTI quoted HR Biswas, Director of Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, as saying.