First-hand feelings of Phailin...

 The Journey

It was 7AM in the morning when I woke up to the noise in the train. I did not have the best possible sleep, but enough to look for the new day. I was travelling from Hyderabad to Brahmapur in Vishakha Express on the day before Phailin. The super cyclone was in news for a week and coastal Odisha and Andhra were under threat. It was a planned vacation which I didn’t cancel and desperate to reach home to attend our yearly Durga puja. This is one of the major festivals where most of family gathers. I slept again, as 5 more hours to go to reach the destination. The train was on its way - mostly on schedule. When finally I woke up in Visakhapatnam, the train got filled to the fullest with no space to walk; everyone seemed to be in a hurry. There was no sign of Phailin yet. Then I continued reading through the novel "The farm", the story was captivating enough to glue over the pages. Around 9 O'clock in the morning, we reached Vizanagaram. The train halted for more than 30 minutes and I sensed something is wrong. The previous night, I had switched off the cell phone. When I switched it on, there were 10 missed calls from home, and got to know that it was raining heavily in Brahmapur with high wind. They were worried and I had briefed that I was on track.

I kept reading the novel, and around 9.30AM we were informed that the train is canceled and it confirmed around 10AM. Finally people started disembarking. The helplessness was evident among two thousand people. I was 220KM away from the destination. With no quick plan in mind I saw people are planning to go by car to Bhubaneswar and the price was already sky rocketed. I thought more than the price it’s urgent that we need to move quickly or stay back. The train was returning to Hyderabad, and for me that was not an option. So I ventured out to see what the options were, and looked the taxi as the only option out. I tried my luck to see if there was any group to Brahmapur and finally found one.

We started around 11AM. The driver was quite an experienced fellow. The town was still under the grip of police protection. There were some movement on the roads but one can see ample forces all around. The police, para-military and RAF etc. The car started crawling in the serpentine roads and we were eagerly waiting it to touch the highways. Finally the car raced at an 100KMPH and we crossed one check gate after other. Though there was no rain or wind as we started, every KM we passed the rain was increasing so as the wind. Slowly we were entering the danger zone: Kalingapatnam - the starting point of the Phailin. The number of vehicles on the highways kept on decreasing but surprisingly we could still see two-wheelers! The wind speed was too high to stop the car. It was that driver's confidence and maneuver that brought little hope on us to reach Brahmapur. As we were approaching the destination, the car kept on slowing down. We kept seeing falling down of trees, and there were NHAI patrolling vehicles to clear the highways. We noticed many heavy vehicles were stopping and being parked besides the highways. There was fear in the air...numerous calls...and we keep giving ok replies, "we are fine", and "no problem here" etc. We were proceeding at snails pace. The rain was poring and wind was quite above the normal coastal standard. We reached the Odisha boarder around 2.30PM and in Brahmapur around 3PM. The rain stopped for a while and wind speed reduced while we were approaching Brahmapur.

We hardly noticed any vehicles on the highways except occasional cars. No human being or animal was in sight even in the city. The roads were all scattered like a unkempt urchin. Trees had fallen and some electric poles fighting against the wind to stay tall. All the bill boards were looking dangerous and many had already been blown away. And, it was just the afternoon. The taxi kept on moving, crossing over the fallen trees, and through the winding narrow lanes in Berhampur, and finally I reached home around 3.30pm. On the way, noticed the medical campus had is first scar, couple of big trees had already fell down before they could meet Phailin!

That night we met Phailin

The rain and wind had subsided when we reached Brahmapur. The whole town was deserted with no animal in sight. Puja pandals had been cleared or about to collapse and what we experienced was the trailer and the main event was yet to come! After I reached at home there was a sense of relief. Everyone was tensed,  I sensed the worry and kept smiling telling that situation was under control, and it was alright to travel. After I got fresh up met with upcoming challenges. Already the power was down, no electricity since the last night. All other activities were stalled. No water on the sink, no point to recharge the dead cell phones, no electricity to check the TV or Internet to see if any warning or event. Then it was fast turning darker around 5.30pm. No water to cook, so we had to go out to the nearby well to fetch water. The wind and rain were gaining momentum, after the water were kept all window and doors were locked. And the winds started gradually to threaten.

It was completely dark and the sound we heard was roaring winds. We had a wall built on the terrace for one room, and an asbestos rooftop, and the syntex water tank. We had little hope for their survival. Around 9.30PM I heard the first blow. Possibly walls collapsed, and the house trembled. The front gate of the house was locked. It was an iron grill. The gates were unlocked with the wind after the rod joining the gates got bended. We tried to lock it up again. My brother was holding one side of the gate and I was holding the other. Before we could lock it, one blow came and threw us 3 feet. We could not lock it again. And around 9 to 10PM the cyclone reached the zenith, the sound of the wind was very ferocious and threatening every human existence. Even a brand new concrete building was of no hope. There were prayers and we were isolated from the rest of the world!

The front door (facing north) was locked yet the wind was hitting on it head on. At 10PM, it could not withstand the pressure so we had to hold it from behind. The door was trembling heavily. That was a heavy teak wood and had the best fittings yet it was threatening its existence and if that would have broken, it would have blown away every household belongings. After five hours of havoc the wind never subsided and thrashing sound kept on frightening. We didn't know if it was the wall or the rooftop or the water tank! It appeared, as if it’s never going to stop before annihilation. The last leg of the puja was still on in our house - the navami puja. Around that time it started raining inside the house! The wind kept sending the rain through the ventilators and water was everywhere inside house. Every one of us was terrified, and waiting the midnight, as it was informed that it will fade out after six hours.

We were more worried about folks at villages, relatives in and around Brahmapur. When it could threat such well-built structure what about the mud huts, what about the village houses? No doubt people were shifted to safer places but what about their belongings, what about their livestock?

As hoped finally the wind took a beating and the ferocious sound was gradually coming down. The puja was over around 1AM and the situation was like in the evening, under control. We could open the main door and noticed that the staircase rooftop was blown away and outside was looking like a dump yard. It was complete dark and the cyclone still had its fading existence. Though there was still rain and wind but we were sure that the worst was over. We had our dinner around 2AM and slept around 3AM. When we woke up in the morning, there was flood everywhere.

The aftermath

On the first day post the disaster, there were debris everywhere and Brahmapur was inundated with flood waters. It was difficult to move around. Big trees were blocking the road network, and many were in action to clear it. All the electricity poles were grounded and the wires were scattered haywire. If the rumor were to be believed it would take around a month to restore electricity. No water resources except the wells, tube-wells, and some part of town received bore well water or municipality water supply. No vegetables or some were sold at high prices, and when the evening came, it was like a dark forbidden land except those concrete buildings and few barren trees bent down or coiled or crippled. Nothing to notice... Most of the roads in low lying areas were washed away in the immediate flood that followed...there were no news of what happened to others... how were people on other side of town living....no mode of communication were available! Just prayers for well-being of the loved ones and relatives.

The second day started with a clear sky and a sunny day. That was little reprieve and the flood started coming down in some part of the city. Many houses were flood hit in the low lying areas. They got out of their houses finally and whole city was busy in drying up and cleaning the debris and restoring the houses. Every house got some scar - small or big, and every human being was impacted in some form or the other, so were the other animals. I noticed the stray dogs crying, hungry monkeys hoping around and hardly noticed any birds. 

Hospitals and other urgent institutions were provided with electricity, railways started, and roads cleared...at least we could go to other parts of the city. But the darkness would rule after sun was set, and water scarcity was deepening. The life was getting on track gradually, but I saw some people in the low lying areas without pucca buildings. Their situation was worse. The relief operation and post-cyclone rehabilitation programs were on, but I felt, no governmental steps alone could be sufficient to control such damages and it's aftermath. I urge everyone to contribute to their capacity (no matter how small), that will help people who suffered the most. At least, that will be a humanitarian effort to mitigate some suffering from natures fury.

Photo Credits: Isis Bhabi, and Uttam Bhai. All my gadgets were out of power!