Cyclone Fani batters Odisha

Bhubaneshwar: At least three people were killed as extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani made landfall on the coast of Odisha, near Puri, at around 9 am on Friday.

Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 175 kmph, the cyclonic storm slammed into the Odisha coast, uprooting trees and sweeping away thatched huts.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the eye of the storm, whose landfall process started at around 9 am, completely moved into land by 10 am, causing extensive damage in Puri and many other parts of the state.

The India Meteorological Department said the Cyclone Fani — the strongest to hit India in five years — is gradually weakening and moving towards West Bengal after which it will enter Bangladesh.

As it made landfall in Puri, the cyclone triggered heavy rainfall and brought in high-velocity winds with speed up to 175 kmph in several areas.

Heavy rains continued throughout Friday in Odisha, where more than a million people have been evacuated.

"After making landfall on Friday morning, the cyclone has started weakening and it's likely to enter Bangladesh by Saturday evening.

No cyclone ever had such a long duration in April," IMD Director-General KJ Ramesh told reporters.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appealed to people to remain indoors during the period of the cyclone and said all arrangements have been made for the safety and security of the people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the Centre has released more than Rs 1,000 crore to all the states, which will face the brunt of Cyclone Fani that made landfall near Puri.

Modi, who was addressing an election rally in Rajasthan, said the Centre is in touch with the governments in Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

"I took the latest update from officers. I held a review meeting on Thursday.

More than Rs 1,000 crore was released to concerned governments in advance.

The NDRF, Indian Coast Guard, army, navy and Air Force are working with the administration.

I assure the affected people that the entire nation and the Centre are with them," Modi said.

Videos tweeted by the officials showed how winds gusting up to 200kmph damaged the roof of AIIMS in Bhubaneswar and caused extensive damage in the temple town of Puri.

It was reported that a 32-year-old woman, a helper at Coach Repair Workshop in Mancheswar, gave birth to a baby girl in a railway hospital in the morning.

It added that the baby has been named Fani after the cyclonic storm.

The India Meteorological Department said the cyclone is expected to weaken with a wind speed of 150-160km per hour and that it will weaken and move north-northeastwards.

By evening, it may weaken into a severe cyclonic storm over the extreme northern part of Odisha, it added.

The system is then very likely to continue to move north-northeastwards, weaken gradually and emerge into Gangetic West Bengal as a "severe cyclonic storm" by the Saturday morning.

It is very likely to move further north-northeastwards and enter Bangladesh as a cyclonic storm on Saturday.

Rains and strong winds also lashed Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and Bhadrak on Friday.

Flight operations from Bhubaneswar were suspended from Thursday midnight and from Kolkata from Friday morning.

The East Coast Railway said it has cancelled ten more trains — seven trains on May 3, one train on May 4, one train on May 6 one train on May 7.

The railways had earlier cancelled 147 trains from May 1 to May 3.

Hundreds of disaster management personnel were deployed in the state, and doctors and other medical staff were told to defer any leave until May 15.

The strongest ever cyclone to hit Odisha came in October 1999 while the second biggest, Cyclone Phailin hit the coast in October 2013.

Cyclone Titli that hit Andhra Pradesh coast in October last year, had killed 61 people.