Bhubaneshwar: Extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani made landfall on the eastern coast wreaking havoc in Odisha on Friday. Despite extensive damage caused by near 200 mph winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall, no loss of life has been reported so far.
Damaging houses, thousands of trees and electricity poles, uprooting trees, the eye of Fani almost 25 km in diameter is sending off wind velocity of 150 to 175 mph and even above at some places touching 180 or more, said the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
The cyclone started crossing into the Odisha coast close to Puri between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Friday. The process of landfall will continue till 1 p.m. The cyclone has completely thrown normal life out of gear with heavy to very heavy rains lashing the coastal districts since Thursday night.
The road network in several districts suffered extensive damage. The power distribution network has also been severely affected. Asbestos sheets of temporary housing facilities have been ripped off.
However, there were no reports of loss of lives so far, special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said, while received reports regarding the uprooting of trees in some areas.
The meteorological department said while strong winds will continue to blow for the next couple of hours, heavy rainfall will continue across the state.
“The process of cyclone Fani’s landfall in Puri will take place from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.,” said Bhubaneswar Met Centre Director H.R. Biswas.
The already rough sea in Puri is turbulent. Evacuation has been carried out till 5 km of the beach area. Even the calm sea in Chandipur is violent, officials said.
It is likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, south of Puri during May 3 forenoon with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 mph gusting to 200 kmph.
Nearly 11 lakh people have been evacuated from the vulnerable areas to safer places in the last 24 hours in Odisha. Ganjam and Puri districts have evacuated more than 3 lakh and 1.3 lakh people, respectively.
India has evacuated over one million people on Friday living on the outskirts of Konark in the eastern state of Odisha. More than 1 million people have been evacuated from the vulnerable districts in last 24hrs. Ganjam & Puri evacuated more than 3 lakh & 1.3 lakh people respectively to safe shelters. About 5000 kitchens started operating to serve people in the shelters.
The Indian Navy warships – Sahyadri, Ranvir and Kadmatt – are on stand-by with relief materials and medical teams. Other naval vessels are also on stand-by at Vishakhapattanam. Naval divers teams have moved to Odisha from Vishakhapattanam.
The cities of Puri, Paradip, Bhubaneswar, Gopalpur have been experiencing rains since Thursday. Strong winds measuring up to 174 kmph lashed Chilika early on Friday uprooting trees.
About 10,000 villages and 52 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) were likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm. Cyclone Fani was likely to strike off 15 districts in Odisha, where hundreds of disaster management personnel were deployed, closed colleges and schools, and asked health officials and doctors not to take leave until May 15.
The state government has evacuated more than one million people in the last 24 hours, according to chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s tweet.
The airport at the capital of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, will remain shut on Friday, and its neighbouring state, West Bengal, has also decided to shut its airport at the capital, Kolkata.
Also read: Cyclone Fani: India evacuates over 1 million people in Odisha ahead of cyclone’ landfall