Bhubaneswar: It was a night that changed the course of Odisha’s history. On October 29, 1999, the state woke up to a disaster that words still struggle to describe. The 1999 Super Cyclone, one of the fiercest storms to ever hit India, tore through Odisha’s coast with winds roaring more than 260 kmph and tidal waves swallowing everything in their path.

Entire villages in Erasama, Kujang, Jagatsinghpur, and Kendrapara areas vanished with the storm. Thousands clung to trees, rooftops, and hope, but very few survived. Officially, around 10,000 lives were lost, but locals still believe the real toll was far higher. For many families, no trace of their loved ones was ever found. The force of the surge was such that bodies were found stuck high in trees after the water receded.

Electric poles s

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