Cyclone Phailin closes in on Odisha, Andhra Pradesh coasts; forces mass exodus

Experts say the wind speed is gusting at 210 to 220 km per hour and is expected to touch 240 km per hour when the cyclone hits the coasts of Odisha and northern Andhra Pradesh. However, the US Navy says winds may reach 315 kmph on landfall, classifying Phailin as a Category 5 storm - the most powerful. (Read: Phailin, strongest cyclone since 1999, shows no sign of weakening)

The Met department says Phailin is now almost 200 km away from Gopalpur in Odisha; the cyclone is expected to make its landfall between Gopalpur and Kalingapatnam. The touchdown will trigger very heavy rainfall in coastal Odisha and northern coast of Andhra Pradesh, the weather department says. (Watch: Cyclone Phailin may cause tides as high as 3 metres, says Met department)

The Odisha government has said it was setting a "zero casualty target" and was seeking "100 percent" evacuation of people in areas likely to be hit by the storm. The state government has so far evacuated nearly three lakh people from its coastal districts, with over a lakh evacuated from Ganjam district alone. (Read: How Odisha is bracing for the cyclone)

In Andhra Pradesh, 64,000 people have been evacuated so far. Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has called a meeting to monitor relief operations today.

The Centre has deployed Central Reserve Police Force jawans in three vulnerable districts of Odisha - Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur and Khurda. 23 cyclone centres and more than 100 shelter homes have been set up in the seven districts likely to be most affected. 1600 National Disaster Response Force or NDRF personnel have also been dispatched.

Indian Air Force assets in Nashik, Ranchi, Bangalore, Nagpur and Barrackpore are on standby; more than 20 planes and choppers have been deployed. A 30-member divers' team of the Indian Navy is ready; its ships will be deployed after the cyclone landfall. Five Army columns have been sent to Bhubaneswar from Ranchi.

Paradip Port, one of the 12 major ports in the country, has shut all cargo operations, plants and machinery and put in place a contingency plan to meet any eventuality due to Cyclone Phailin. Paradip Port serves the eastern and central parts of the country and its hinterland extends to Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. (See pictures)

Odisha, which faced the destruction and devastation of a super-cyclone in 1999, says it is not ready to take any chances this time. The state's Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patra told NDTV, "We are fighting against nature. We are better prepared this time, we learnt a lot from 1999." Nearly 15,000 people died in the 1999 super-cyclone.

Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have been warned about extensive damage to homes, communication and power systems and crops in the storm, presaged by heavy rain and strong winds. Parts of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh also likely to experience rainfall.

The Indian Meteorological Department or IMD has said Phailin will remain a "very severe" cyclone, but it is not right to call it a super-cyclone yet. Some weathermen are describing it as potentially India's version of hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest storms in the US history.