Two days after Cyclone Phailin made landfall, Chhatrapur, the district headquarters of Ganjam, struggled without electricity or water supply.

Nearly one in four people on earth live in the countries that border the Bay of Bengal. The region is strategically vital to Asia's rising powers.

Andhra Pradesh was spared the onslaught of cyclone Phailin, which left one person dead and inundated a few thousand acres of crops, a relatively small toll when compared to the doomsday predictions

Weakens after leaving trail of destruction Lakhs of homes damaged Cargo ship missing

Cyclone Phailin on Sunday left a trail of destruction knocking down lakhs of homes affecting nearly 90 lakh people and destroying paddy crops worth about Rs 2,400 crore, but little loss of life was reported in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in the country's strongest storm in 14 years.

Intense and destructive storms are likely to occur more frequently as global warming intensifies, Greenpeace said on Saturday.

"Such intense and destructive storms are likely to become more frequent in the future as global warming intensifies. Even a small increase in the ocean's warmth can turn tropical disturbances into hurricanes or pump up an existing storm's power," said Greenpeace India member Biswajit Mohanty.

Nandankan zoo came out almost unscathed in the cyclone Phailin on Saturday, zoo authorities said on Sunday. It will reopen on Monday.

"There was no death or injury to any caged animal or bird. There was no escape either. Though we generally remain closed on Monday, we will reopen it in view of Dussehra," zoo deputy director Kamal Purohit told TOI. The zoo attracts large number of visitors on Durga puja.

A total of 28 relief camps have been opened and 850 people evacuated across two rural blocks in East Singhbhum district.

The Bihar Government has sounded alert in 28 flood-prone districts following a warning issued by Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in the wake of cyclone Phailin that pounded Odisha and Andhra

Over 1.26 crore people suffer as storm hits transport, power lines

Seventeen persons were killed as the very severe cyclonic storm, Phailin, hit the Odisha coast near Gopalpur in Ganjam district late on Saturday evening, Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mohapatra said on Sunday.

Eight million people affected, 17 lives lost; Ganjam bears brunt of cyclone

Cyclone Phailin, which made a landfall on the southern coast of Odisha at around 8:30 pm on Saturday at a windspeed of 200 km an hour, affected a cultivable area of 0.5 million hectares and damaged 80 per cent of the power transmission infrastructure in the coastal areas.