BHUBANESWAR: Roads were damaged, power supply snapped and telecommunications networks severely affected in most parts of Ganjam and Gajapati districts as severe cyclonic storm Titli made a landfall between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coast early on Thursday morning.

The storm hit the coast between Gopalpur and Palasa with a staggering surface wind speed of 140 to 150 kmph and triggered extremely heavy rainfall in Ganjam, Gajapati and Puri districts. Wind speed at Gopalpur during landfall of the storm was around 126 kmph.

The storm uprooted trees, damaged thatched and asbestos houses besides street lights in both Ganjam and Gajapati districts. However, no casualty due to the storm has been reported as nearly three lakh people were evacuated from the low-lying and vulnerable areas by the State Government. Vehicular communication came to a grinding halt as roads connecting Gopalpur and other stretches of Ganjam and Gajapati due to felling of trees.

Power outage in most parts of Ganjam including Berhampur Municipal Corporation was reported as transformers and electric poles were damaged. Apart from the southern districts including Rayagada, several parts of coastal districts including Puri, Khurda, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Balasore were also affected due to heavy rain triggered by the severe cyclonic storm.

India Meteorology Department (IMD) officials said the storm will move in northwestwards direction in next 12 hours and then re-curve northeastwards towards Gangetic West Bengal covering most parts of central and north Odisha districts.

"The wind speed during the period may remain between 50 to 70 kmph and is expected to decrease gradually as the storm slowly weakens into a depression by Friday morning," said Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Director HR Biswas.

Meanwhile, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi said 1,112 relief camps have been opened for the evacuees at cyclone shelters in affected districts, while restoration work is in progress in Ganjam and Gajapati.-"People are being provided cooked food in the shelter houses.

At least 105 pregnant women in Ganjam and 18 in Jagatsinghpur have been shifted to hospitals safely," he said. The SRC said 13 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in the districts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Kendrapada, Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Jajpur, Khurda and Sambalpur to carry out rescue and relief works.

Nine teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service personnel have also been deployed in vulnerable areas of these districts, the SRC informed adding that the situation is being monitored closely.