Cyclone Fani batters Odisha coast, leaves 3 dead, causes massive damage 

A road in Puri after Cyclone Fani made landfall.

New Delhi: Cyclone Fani made landfall in Odisha, near Puri, just before noon on Friday. The cyclone battered the state’s coastline during which three people were reportedly killed, some injured and some missing. Fani has also caused massive damage in the Puri area.

After making landfall near Puri, the cyclone created panic in the region. It damaged houses, uprooted thousands of trees and electric poles. All shops were closed and streets remained vacant in the state capital Bhubaneswar and other nearby towns, like Cuttack and Bhadrak. No public vehicles were seen plying except for a handful of private cars.

Flight operations from Bhubaneswar were suspended from Thursday midnight and from Kolkata from Friday morning. West Bengal also closed the airport in its state capital of at Kolkata.

The East Coast Railway has cancelled ten trains in all – 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.

At this moment, it is gradually weakening and moving towards West Bengal, following which it will enter Bangladesh. Although it is moving towards Bangladesh, heavy rains, along with strong winds, will continue throughout Friday until Saturday in Odisha. Nearly one million people were evacuated in the state before the cyclone hit the state. Elaborate measures were taken to minimize the loss of life and property by the states and various central agencies, including the armed forces, NDRF, SDRF, etc.

Notably, this is the India’s strongest summertime cyclone in the last 43 years. According to India Meteorological Department, the Bay of Bengal cyclone was also the strongest to hit India in the last five years.

While speaking to reporters, KJ Ramesh, director general of IMD, said “After making landfall this morning, cyclone Fani has started weakening and it’s likely to enter Bangladesh by tomorrow evening. No cyclone (on record) ever had such a long duration in April.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election rally in Rajasthan, on Friday, said the Centre has released more than ₹1,000 crore to all the states, which are affected by Cyclone Fani. He further added that his government is working in tandem with government of Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, which have been hit by the cyclone.

The prime minister further said, “I took the latest update from officers. I held a review meeting yesterday (Thursday). All the precautionary measures have been taken. The NDRF, Indian Coast Guard, army, navy and Air Force are working with in cooperation with the administration. I assure the affected people that the entire nation and the Centre are with them.”

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