Cyclone Phailin pounds India, rescue workers start to assess damage

   
Cyclone Phailin powered its way inland over eastern India on Sunday leaving a swathe of destruction but the loss of life appeared limited after more than half a million people sought safety in storm shelters.    

Phailin was the strongest storm to hit India in 14 years. Torn branches littered a road running past destroyed huts and twisted electricity poles along a large stretch of the east coast.    

At least five people were killed - four people by falling trees and one when the walls of her mud house collapsed as the storm roared in off the Bay of Bengal, authorities said.    

The cyclone was one of three major storms over Asia on Sunday. The smaller Typhoon Nari was approaching Vietnam and Typhoon Wipha loomed over the Pacific.

More than half a million people in India spent the night in shelters, some built after a storm killed 10,000 people in 1999. Others took refuge in temples.    

By first light, winds had slowed to 90 kph (56 mph) from top speeds of 200 kph (124 mph) when the storm made landfall near the town of Gopalpur in Odisha state on Saturday night.    

Television images showed cars flipped on their sides and debris-strewn streets in the silk producing city of Brahmapur, one of the hardest hit. A few trucks and motor-bikes returned to the city's streets as residents emerged to survey the damage.    

Large swathes of Odisha, including its capital, were without electricity for a second day after the storm ripped down power cables, and officials said it was too early to give an accurate damage assessment.   


REUTERS