Port town spared, residents relieved  

PARADIP:  Residents of Paradip and nearby areas heaved a sigh of relief as cyclone Yaas spared the port town and made landfall at Balasore’s Bahanaga on Wednesday. Expecting the storm to hit Paradip coast, lakhs of people of the port town besides Kujang, Erasama, Tirtol and Balikuda areas spent sleepless nights since the last two days. But the cyclone changed its course at the last moment and spared the port town. There were no reports of any damages or loss of life in the area.

A senior officer of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) said since there has been no damage, the administration will resume port operations soon. It is expected that operations will resume by Thursday morning. A fisherman of Sandhakuda Kartik Rao said police and NDRF personnel had evacuated the locals to a cyclone shelter. “It is a relief for us as our houses and boats have suffered no damage in the cyclone,” he added.

Deputy Collector (emergency) Ajaya Mohanty said the administration evacuated people from different areas to safer places. Now, cooked food is being supplied to the evacuees in 190 cyclone shelters. Only a few trees were uprooted in Paradip but no major damage has been reported, he added.

Earlier, with the devastation of cyclones Fani and Amphan fresh in their mind, residents made a beeline for markets to stock up essentials, throwing Covid guidelines to the wind. There was a fear of Covid transmission as Jagatsinghpur district is reporting nearly 300 positive cases daily since the last week. 
On Tuesday, as many as 315 Covid cases were detected in the district, taking the tally to 16,174.