BHUBANESWAR : Cyclones have been a sore spot of Bhubaneswar. Be it Fani or Phailin. Yaas was predicted to be strong too and denizens had their moments of anxiety. However, the State Capital heaved a sigh of relief as very severe cyclonic storm Yaas that wreaked havoc in north-coastal districts on Wednesday left the Temple city untouched. The IMD had forecast heavy rainfall and wind speed reaching up to 80-90 kmph with gusting up to 100 kmph in Khurda during the cyclone on May 26. However, to everyone’s respite there was no major precipitation, nor was there any gusty wind.
Met Director HR Biswas said, Bhubaneswar largely remained unaffected as the system crossed the land which was very far from the Capital. Besides, the overall impact of the storm was also comparatively less, he said. Biswas said, the maximum wind speed of around 40-50kmph was recorded from parts of the city.
Former Director of IMD, Odisha Sarat Chandra Sahu said, impact of the cyclone remained less due to presence of monsoon cloud over Andaman Sea which to some extent prevented it from gathering much intensity.
“The monsoon current is the reason why Yaas was not as strong as Fani which had also hit the State two years back in May,” Sahu said and added the cyclonic storm can also be termed as a rain storm. Besides, the cyclone earlier had been expected to make landfall close to Jagatsinghpur but there was change in its projected path and its landfall took place around 200 km away from Bhubaneswar. This was also the reason why the city remained largely unaffected during Amphan last year.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had kept 70 cyclone centres in readiness and commissioned de-watering pump sets in 27 vulnerable points prone to water-logging. Around 84 quintals of dry food had also been kept in stock. Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Singh said, the impact of the storm was virtually nil and no damage has been reported from any place in the last 24 hours.
Barring complaints related to snapping of an electric pole in Unit-VIII and dangling wires in Nayapalli and Mancheswar areas, no major grievances were received by the control room activated by the civic body to deal with the situation. In fact only three complaints were received by the civic body control room between 6 am and 6pm on Wednesday.