A Great Escape from the Bay of Bengal “Super Sapphire–Phailin” Tropical Cyclone: A Case of Improved Weather Forecast and Societal Response for Disaster Mitigation

Abstract

he very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) ?Phailin (2013)? was the strongest cyclone that hit the eastern coast of the India Odisha state since the supercyclone of 1999. But the same story of casualties was not repeated as that of 1999 where approximately 10 000 fatalities were reported. In the case of Phailin, a record 1 million people were evacuated across 18 000 villages in both the Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states to coastal shelters following the improved operational forecast guidance that benefited from highly skillful and accurate numerical model guidance for the movement, intensity, rainfall, and storm surge. Thus, the property damage and death toll were minimized through the proactive involvement of three-tier disaster management agencies at central, state, and district levels.