Cyclone Fani LIVE updates: The Odisha government has evacuated more than 8 lakh people to safer places as extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani gathers strength in the Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall near Puri today afternoon. Gusts in excess of 200 kph with up to 300 mm of rain are expected to hit Gopalpur and Chandbali, south of Puri in Odisha and several parts of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, reports said. Currently, cyclone Fani is over the Bay of Bengal and it is heading towards the state of Odisha with wind speeds of up to 190 km per hour.
The East Coast Railways said a special train with reserved and unreserved berths will start from Puri at 12 pm today and go towards Shalimar. The stoppages are Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendujhar road, Bhadrak, Balasore and Kharagpur. The train will reach Bhubaneswar at about 1:30 pm. East Coast Railways has also issued an advisory to cancel or regulate trains which might get affected due to cyclone Fani. The section between Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Puri-Visakhapatnam will be cleared so that there will be no train in the section during the extreme situation, East Coast Railways said.
According to the latest forecast by the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JWTC), Fani is the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that devastated large parts of Odisha. The Super Cyclone had killed more than 10,000 people in the state.
Here are the LIVE updates:
– HR Biswas, Director, Met Dept, Bhubaneswar: Today, mostly south coastal Odisha and adjoining interior Odisha will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall. Tomorrow all 11 coastal districts along with and adjoining interior districts will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall.
– Airport Authority of India has issued an alert to all coastal airports to ensured that all precautions and SOPs are put in place immediately, in the view of cyclone Fani
– All Educational institutions in Odisha have been closed today. The state government has issued cyclone alert to all districts collectors and asked them to be prepared.
– At least 20 ODRAF units, 18 NDRF units and 300 rescue boats have been kept ready.
– A storm surge of about 1.5-meter height may inundate low lying coastal area of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha at the time of landfall.
– Southern Command of Indian Army said naval aircraft are kept ready at Naval Air Stations and INS Dega and INS Rajali will undertake an aerial survey of the most affected areas, casualty evacuation and airdrop of relief material, as required by the state administration. i
– Meanwhile, preparations underway by Odisha Fire Services in view of “extremely severe” cyclonic storm Fani. Around 50 teams of six members each are on alert in Bhubaneswar.
– The Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar has been closed for visitors from May 2, 2019, to May 4, 2019, as a precautionary measure.
