BHUBANESWAR: More than three lakh people were evacuated from the seaside villages on Wednesday as the state government moved to batten down the hatches before cyclone Titli hits the Odisha coast. Titli, which has now intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm, is expected to make landfall between Gopalpur in Odisha and Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh between 5.30am and 11am on Thursday.The cyclone is expected to cause extremely heavy rainfall accompanied by wind blowing at a speed of up to 165 kilometres per hour in coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.The state government has issued red alert for the 18 districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Rayagada, Koraput, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Boudh, Balangir, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Bhadrak and Balasore. Markets across the state witnessed heavy rush, with panic-stricken people stocking up on essential commodities as storm inched closer to the Odisha coast. Within hours of the Met office forecast of Titli hitting Odisha coast on Thursday, prices of essential commodities and grocery shot through the roof. “The demand for candles, matchboxes, onions, potatoes, salt, sugar and other necessary items has increased. People are also buying noodles and biscuits,” Kartika Sahu, a grocer of Unit-IV market in the city, said.Special relief commissioner and managing director of Odisha State Distater Management Authority, Bishnupada Sethi, said people living in low lying areas of Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada and Khurda districts, which are supposed to face the brunt of the storm, have been moved to safety. Odisha government has announced the closure of all educational institutes and anganwadi centres for two days and placed rescue personnel of National Disaster Response Force and Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force on standby.Five Indigo flights scheduled for Thursday from Bhubaneswar have been cancelled while several trains too have been cancelled.

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