NEW DELHI // At least seven people died and more than 600,000 fled their homes in panic yesterday as the Indian Ocean’s fiercest recorded storm slammed into eastern India.
Cyclone Phailin made landfall near the town of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh with driving rain and wind speeds of nearly 200kph.
A few hours before the storm hit, about 200 villagers were jammed into a two-room schoolhouse in the village of Subalaya in Odisha, about 30 kilometres from the coast, where emergency officials were distributing food and water.
The roads were almost completely empty of traffic, but two lorries pulled up to the school with more evacuees. Children shivered in the rain as they stepped down from the vehicles, following women carrying bags jammed with possessions.
Many had fled low-lying villages for the shelter of the concrete school. Some left behind relatives who feared the storm could wipe out lifetimes of work.
“My son had to stay back with his wife because of the cattle and belongings,” said Kaushalya Jena, 70, weeping in fear inside the makeshift shelter. “I don’t know if they are safe.”
In Berhampur, a town in Odisha about 10 kilometres inland, the sky darkened quickly as the storm hit, with strong winds and rain pelting the empty streets.
“My parents have been calling me regularly … they are worried,” said Hemant Pati, 27, who was holed up in a Berhampur hotel with 15 other people from Srikakulam.
The hotel manager said he would bar the doors against anyone trying to enter, and there would be food, water and electricity from generators only for guests of the Hotel Jyoti Residency. “Nobody can come inside, and nobody can go out,” Shaik Nisaruddin said.
The coastal states of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh bore the brunt of the cyclone’s force. Off the Odisha coast, the sea surged by nearly three metres, swamping small villages and farms.
“The skies have been completely dark for some time now, and the rain is continuous,” Soumitra Pattnaik, a resident of Odisha’s capital Bhubaneshwar, said an hour before landfall.
“The power has been cut since 9am, and it will be this way until the morning,” Mr Pattnaik said. “We’ve been told not to go outside for 24 to 48 hours.”
Phailin has been compared in strength to Hurricane Katrina, which damaged property worth US$81 billion (Dh297.27bn) in the United States in 2005. It also revived memories of a cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999, killing nearly 10,000 and causing $4.5bn in damage.
Jatin Singh, the chief executive of SkyMet, a private weather forecaster, said the coast was now far better prepared but the economic cost would be dire.
“I don’t think you’ll see 10,000 people dying here,” he said. “They’ve evacuated people living in mud and thatch huts, there has been more forewarning, and there are more cyclone shelters.”
It will take three to four weeks to assess Phailin’s economic effect, Mr Singh said, and fishing and agriculture would be hardest hit.
“There’s a [rice] paddy crop that is just ready for harvest,” he said, “but it is going to be wiped out because Odisha will get something like 250 millimetres of rain in half a day.”
The major port of Paradip ceased cargo operations on Friday and moved all its vessels – including an oil tanker – to safer harbours.
The 1999 cyclone wrecked Odisha’s economy. As much as 17.5 billion-rupees (Dh1.05bn) worth of crops were destroyed, 500,000 cattle were killed and thousands of fishing boats were destroyed. The state government had to finance the reconstruction of nearly 1.2 million homes, spending an estimated 70bn rupees on food, health and shelter. The Paradip port alone suffered 800m rupees’ worth of damage.
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh will continue to experience heavy rain for several days.
The precise location of Phailin’s landfall may have tempered its effect, the meteorologist Jeff Masters wrote on his Weather Underground blog yesterday.
“The region of the coast where Phailin hit is not as low-lying, though, which should keep the death toll due to storm surge much lower compared to the 1999 Odisha Cyclone, where more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to the storm surge,” Mr Masters wrote.
But “Phailin’s heavy rains will be capable of causing very destructive flooding”.
Across the eastern coast, 2,000 National Disaster Response Force personnel fanned out to expedite evacuations and rescues.
The evacuees in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have been housed in 500 purpose-built cyclone camps, with each shelter able to accommodate 1,500 people.
The National Disaster Management Authority has set up emergency contact centres in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
ssubramanian@thenational.ae
* Additional reporting by the Associated Press
How being social media savvy can improve your well being
Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.
As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.
Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.
Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.
Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.
However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.
“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.
People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5-litre%204-cylinder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20101hp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20135Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Six-speed%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh79%2C900%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
MATCH INFO
Azerbaijan 0
Wales 2 (Moore 10', Wilson 34')
MATCH INFO
Asian Champions League, last 16, first leg:
Al Jazira 3 Persepolis 2
Second leg:
Monday, Azizi Stadium, Tehran. Kick off 7pm
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Fixtures (all in UAE time)
Friday
Everton v Burnley 11pm
Saturday
Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur 3.30pm
West Ham United v Southampton 6pm
Wolves v Fulham 6pm
Cardiff City v Crystal Palace 8.30pm
Newcastle United v Liverpool 10.45pm
Sunday
Chelsea v Watford 5pm
Huddersfield v Manchester United 5pm
Arsenal v Brighton 7.30pm
Monday
Manchester City v Leicester City 11pm
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
