Cyclone Fani, a severe cyclonic storm, made landfall impact on Friday, May 3, 2019 around 8.00 a.m. south of Puri on the Odisha coast. The entire process is expected to happen over the next two hours. The Odisha government on Thursday evacuated over 11 lakh people from low-lying areas in 15 districts.
MHA Control Room Helpline Number- 1938 becomes operational to provide latest updates.
Extensive devastation observed around Puri
The Naval Dornier Aircraft deployed to carry out aerial survey of Odisha to assess the impact of the Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘FANI’ crossing coast near Puri, observed extensive devastation to vegetation in many places around Puri.
A large number of trees and electric poles were found uprooted creating road blocks in the city limits of Puri. Roof top of Puri Railway Station was found to be blow off. Large scale water inundation was observed in many, particularly in low lying areas between Puri and Chilka Lake.
The Dornier crew observed very strong winds of nearly 50 knots during the sortie. The footage of the aerial survey is being shared with the State Administration officials for planning relief and rehabilitation activities.
8.15 P.M.
Cyclone Fani sends people home early, Kolkata wears deserted look
The main business districts of Kolkata wore a deserted look by Friday afternoon as the fear of devastation by the severe cyclonic storm Fani sent the people to the safety of their homes.
People who had gone out for work in the morning wrapped up their schedule as fast as possible, while many schools declared a holiday.
The met department has forecast heavy to very heavy rains in most places of south Bengal, with extremely heavy falls at one or two places.
The wind velocity is likely to touch 60 km per hour in the city and adjoining districts on Friday, the weatherman said.
Gale wind speed reaching 90 to 100 kmph, gusting to 115 kmph is very likely along and off West Bengal coast from midnight, while in the interior parts the wind speed may reach upto 80 kmph, according to the Met department.
Eastern and South Eastern Railway cancelled several trains to prevent any injury to passengers or damage to railway property.
“As a precautionary measure keeping in view the safety of passengers, SER’s EMU service will run as per Sunday’s schedule on May 3,” its spokesman Sanjay Ghosh said
Besides nine other up and 10 down EMU locals will also remain cancelled.
Eastern Railway cancelled several EMU locals in its Sealdah south section from 3 pm to Friday midnight and planned to suspend operations from midnight till 6 am Saturday in the section, its spokesman Nikhil Chakraborty said.
Many offices in the city called it a day by early afternoon allowing employees to leave office early.
HSBC Bank closed its branches in Kolkata at 12.30 pm in view of the potential impact of Cyclone Fani.
Police made regular announcements in the city and adjoining districts asking people to stay indoors and measures to be taken in case of emergency.
Tourists have already left the seaside tourist towns of Digha, Mandarmoni, Shankarpur, Tajpur, Talsari, Bakkhali and Sagar Islands on the advise of the Met department and the West Bengal administration’s directive.
The Met department has advised people in affected areas to remain indoors apprehending damage to property and people from the fury of the cyclone.
6:30 P.M.
Another blow for Srikakulam district
Fani has turned out to be another blow for Srikakulam district which had witnessed unprecedented damage with the impact of Titli cyclone in the month of October, 2018.
Both private and government properties worth of ₹38.43 crore got damaged due to cyclonic storm Fani. Compared to cyclone Titli, the damage is relatively less this time say officials. Due to cyclonic storm Fani, horticulture crops such as coconut, cashew, banana and others were damaged in 1030 acres. Paddy, maize and other crops were damaged in 2100 acres in the district.
Around 162 houses are collapsed and loss is estimated to be ₹51.25 lakh. The initial estimation of loss is around ₹20 crore although the government had estimated only ₹4 crore loss to the crops. Enumeration teams will visit cyclone affected areas on Saturday and Sunday to assess the damage and submit a detailed report to the government which would in turn announce the compensation to the farmers.
Civic property such as roads, street lights, canals, water pipe lines got damaged in several mandals including at Itchapuram, Kaviti, Kanchili, Tekkali and other places. Heavy down pour and gales which moved with a speed of 140 km caused untold miseries to the people. Many vehicles were stranded on National Highway connecting Chennai-Kolkata with the fall of age old trees on national highway. The situation was horrible in state highways and Panchayat roads. Srikakulam District Fire Officer Ch.Kripavaram said that 44 tree cutting and relief teams had continuously worked to remove uprooted trees. “Our recent experience in Titli helped us to monitor the relief operations quickly in remote areas. Now, vehicle movement is as usual,” he added.
With the association of senior IAS officers and former Collectors KS Jawahar Reddy and K.Dhananjaya Reddy, Srikakulam Collector J.Niwas and Joint Collector KVN Chakradhar Babu monitored the relief operations in cyclone affected areas. Parvatipuram ITDA Project Officer G. Lakshmi Sha and Sithampeta ITDA Project Officer L. Siva Sankar also monitored the situation in the district. “The situation is absolutely under control. There was no human loss. It is a major relief for the people as well as adminsitration,” said Mr. Niwas while speaking to media.
4 P.M.
Access cut off to Odisha Raj Bhavan
As Fani devastates the capital city, access to the Raj Bhavan, the State Assembly and the offices of various department heads have all been cut off by felled trees blocking the roads.
3.00 P.M.
Fani batters AIIMS Bhubaneswar unit, rips off hostel roof
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) unit on Friday reported extensive damage hours after the Category 4 Cyclone Fani made landfall on the Odisha coast wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of destruction.
“Extensive damage to structure of AIIMS Bhubaneswar reported. All patients, staff, students safe. Many water tanks have blown off,lighting poles are down, air-conditioners damaged. We have enough supplies, ready to support the state,” said Health Secretary Preeti Sudan.
In several videos doing rounds on social media, several showed the impact of the powerful gales and heavy rain after Fani hit around 10 a.m.
The roof of a building at AIIMS Bhubaneswar was seen being ripped off in one such video clip that was tweeted by the government’s media department, villages submerged and trees and electricity poles uprooted.
In the other videos posted by Sitangshu Kar, the Director General of the Press Information Bureau, the roof of an undergraduate hostel in the Bhubaneswar AIIMS was seen being blown off.
– IANS and The Hindu
