East India Cyclone Kills Scores

The eastern Indian state of Orissa requisitioned air force helicopters to drop food packets on waterlogged areas cut off by a cyclone that has killed as many as 64 people, domestic news agencies reported Tuesday.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ordered federal and state officials to make an aerial survey of the worst affected district, Ganjam, so that national assistance can be given, the United News of India reported.

The state government had asked for air force helicopters to drop food packets in the areas marooned by flooding from the heavy rains, the Press Trust of India reported.

Ganjam bore the brunt of the 125-mph cyclone winds that tore down electrical pylons and telephone poles, disrupted train and road services, smashed huts and killed at least 56 people since Sunday, the news agencies reported.

Hundreds of houses and huts in low-lying areas of Andhra Pradesh were damaged by swirling winds and water, which also uprooted coconut and cashew trees before the storm abated Tuesday, PTI said.

Since Ganjam, in Orissa, remained cut off Tuesday, the full death toll and extent of damage to crops and houses there was not known.

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