Relief Comes to Desperate Indians 3 Days After Cyclone

Bodies hung from trees and floated through flooded villages Monday after one of the most powerful cyclones ever to strike India devastated its northeastern coast. Military helicopters finally arrived with some aid, but thousands were feared dead and millions were still left hungry and homeless.

“This is the worst flooding in 100 years. I would say it is the worst in India’s history,” said Asim Kumar Vaishnav, chief administrator of Baleshwar, in eastern Orissa state.

After three days without food, shelter or clean drinking water, shellshocked villagers in Orissa looked up to see helicopters dropping packets of protein-rich food. With roads into the area flooded, the food could arrive no other way.

Military boats appeared in the Bay of Bengal to evacuate those marooned on housetops and hilltops. Other naval and coast guard vessels searched Monday through the still-rough seas for at least 20 missing fishing trawlers carrying an estimated 200 men.

Many of the cyclone survivors were so desperate that food riots erupted in Bhubaneswar, which had no power, drinking water or fresh food, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Residents stopped vehicles carrying emergency relief and looted them, it said.

“There is a complete breakdown of law and order. Police are inadequate,” said Defense Minister George Fernandes, who visited some of the affected areas.

With heavy rain abating, officials started to count the dead and search for the missing from the cyclone, which crashed into the coast Friday with 155-mph winds. Meteorologists classified the storm as a supercylone, one of the strongest in the region this century.

United News of India quoted an unidentified official as estimating the death toll at 3,000 to 5,000. But the hardest-hit areas remained inaccessible, indicating that the death toll could be much higher.

With the weather improving, air, rail and road links were slowly restored to major cities, but telephone and electricity lines remained inoperable.

In Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross appealed for $2.65 million for emergency aid to the homeless.