Fani hits Odisha

Desk Report: Cyclone Fani, the most severe storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that killed 10,000 people in Odisha of India, has started making its impact felt in the state.

The landfall process of Cyclone Fani started at 8.00 am close to Puri in Odisha, with the area recording a wind speed of around 185 kilometres per hour, the IMD said.

The severe storm will reach West Bengal and Bangladesh on Friday midnight.
The process of landfall is expected to continue for the next two hours, it added. The area along Puri is witnessing winds with a speed of 142 kilometres per hour that could reach up to 180-200 kmph, Mritunjay Mohapatra, in-charge of the Cyclone Warning Division of the India Meteorological Department, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

The Odisha government has already evacuated lakhs of people from the coastal areas to camps on higher grounds.

At least 14 districts in Odisha are in the path of the Cyclone Fani. People have been evacuated from Gajapati, Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Naygarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak and Balasore Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar which are expected to be badly impacted by the storm.

Nearly 11 lakh people have been evacuated in last 24 hrs. Ganjam and Puri evacuated more than 3 lakh and 1.3 lakh people respectively to safe shelters. About 5000 kitchens started operating to serve people in the shelters.

All flights from Bhubaneswar have been cancelled from midnight, Kolkata airport will be shut between 9.30 pm on Friday to till 6 pm on Saturday. A total of 140 trains including 83 passenger trains have been cancelled so far. After crossing Odisha, cyclone Fani is likely to move towards West Bengal before tapering off.

The Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and disaster management agencies are fully prepared and on stand-by. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, reviewed preparedness for Cyclone Fani with his senior-most officials.

Source: NDTV


risingbd/May 3, 2019/Mukul