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India

Indian Cyclone chaos hampers rescue efforts

By Himangshu Watts

BHUBANESHWAR, India, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Rescue teams in the eastern Indian state of Orissa on Tuesday battled impassable roads, flooding, food riots and the threat of epidemics as they tried to help millions hit by last week's massive cyclone.

There was still no official word on the death toll and damage left in the wake of the storm, which was the second to hammer the poverty-stricken state in less than two weeks.

The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency quoted state Revenue Minister Jagannath Patnaik as saying that 250 people had been killed by the cyclone. It added that officials monitoring the situation said the figure could go up to 5,000.

An International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) spokesman quoted a senior state official as saying that about 15 million people had been affected and two million homes had been destroyed or partially damaged.

"The relief commissioner seemed to think there might be as many as 10,000 dead but people are also bandying around a figure of 3,000," the IFRC's South Asia spokesman, Patrick Fuller, told Reuters.

The government's relief efforts gathered momentum on Tuesday with the air force dropping about 31 tonnes of food and about 160,000 food packets being flown in.

The army cleared roads, and distributed food, water and medical supplies to people across the state.

"It has virtually become impossible to mobilise the rescue and relief operations as the rivers in coastal and north Orissa are in spate and are flowing over roads including the national highway," United News of India (UNI) quoted Special Relief Commissioner D.N. Pandhi as saying.

CYCLONE SEVERED LINKS

The cyclone, which packed winds of up to 260 km (160 miles) per hour and triggered tidal waves towering up to six metres (20 feet) as it raged on Friday and Saturday, severed key roads and communication links in the state.

Efforts to restore infrastructure links intensified on Tuesday though phone lines linking the state capital with the rest of the country were still erratic.

The federal telecommunications minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, said telecommunications links in the state had been largely restored and would be close to normal in two to three days.

Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee added that all rail links and railway telecommunication links to Orissa had been restored, except for the port of Paradip, which bore the brunt of the storm.

Officials said petroleum product lighterage terminals of state-run Indian Oil Corp <IOC.BO> and Hindustan Petroleum Corp <HPCL.BO> at the port had been severely damaged.

A federal government statement said the navigation channel at the port had been restored and efforts were being made to resume operations in three days if power was restored.

The threat of an epidemic loomed over the state. "These people have been out there for four days now and if they are drinking contaminated water, you are talking about diseases like gastro-enteritis, diarrhoea and malaria," Fuller said.

PTI news agency said desperate people in the state of some 35 million looted food from thousands of trucks stranded on the main state highway.

The army, the police and the paramilitary were called in to patrol the roads to prevent vandalism and looting.

PTI said the Orissa coast has been hit by 22 cyclones in the past 176 years. The most devastating in living memory, in 1971, tore into Paradip and claimed about 10,000 lives.