BHUBANESWAR: Unleashing its fury on coastal and adjoining districts of Odisha, extremely severe cyclone Fani made landfall at Puri coast close to Chilika on Friday morning.
The cyclonic storm hit Odisha land with a wind speed of 180 to 190kmph. India Meteorological Department said the process of landfall started at around 8am and part of the eye was on Puri land at around 8.30. “Landfall process will continue till 11 am,” the IMD said.
The life-threatening storm surge, strong wind and extremely heavy rainfall accompanied induced by the category 4 cyclone wreaked havoc in the Puri district causing widespread damage and destruction In around the district.
Hundreds of trees uprooted while asbestos and tin roof were blown away by the gusty wind blowing at a speed of around 140 to 150 kmph in many parts of the districts. Apart from Puri, heavy rains lashed many other parts of coastal belt such as Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Jaipur, Jagatsighpur, Cuttack and Kendrapara. The strong wind also caused partial damage to infrastructure in these districts.
Capital Bhubaneswar, located around 70km from the place of the landfall, also experienced heavy rainfall and wrong wind under the impact of the storm. Uprooted trees blocked roads in various parts of the city. The wind gusting up to over 100 kms posed serious threat to vehicles. Cars got damaged as a portion of boundary wall caved in residential area on Janpath road.
Billboards and dangling wires also increased the risk for the citizens in Bomikhal, Rasulgarh, Jaydev Vihar and other places. Many parts of the city also faced water-logging. Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation with the help of fire service units pitched into action removing uprooted trees and clearing roads and drains.
As the landfall process continued Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said the situation is being monitored closely. “As of now, Puri has remained the worst affected district. We are collecting information from other districts too,” Sethi said.
Anticipating destruction, the state government had evacuated over a million people to safety in 13 districts since Thursday night. Besides, it had prepositioned 28 NDRF and 20 ODRAF units along with 550 fire service units in vulnerable areas of 18 districts to carry out relief and rescue operation. The SRC said keeping the situation in view 10 additional NDRF teams have deployed in the affected districts.
After landfall process is over the system is expected to enter into khurda and then move to Cuttack, Jaipur, Bhadrak, Jagatsingpur, Balasore before entering into west Bengal on May 4. Arrangements have been made to start free kitchens at the cyclone shelters.
Around 4,000 such shelters, including 880 specially designed cyclone centres, are housing the evacuees. Over one lakh dry food packets have been kept ready for air dropping for which two choppers requisitioned, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) BP Sethi said.
No casualty has so far been reported from any part of the state, Sethi said adding the government is fully prepared to deal with the situation. A cyclone making a landfall implies that the first arm of the cyclone has reached the land.
The Indian Coast Guard has positioned 34 disaster relief teams at different spots at Vishakhapatnam, Chennai, Gopalpur, Haldia, Frazergunj and Kolkata. It has also deployed four ships to handle any exigency. The Indian Navy has also deployed three ships with relief material and medical teams so that it can launch rescue operation after the cyclone hits the coastline of Odisha.
Navy spokesperson Capt D K Sharma said several aircraft have also been kept on standby for immediate deployment to carry out aerial survey. "Helicopters are also kept standby for joining in rescue operation and for air dropping of relief material when required," Capt Sharma said.
Fani is billed as the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and left a trail of destruction in vast swathes of Odisha, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre. 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.
All shops, business establishments, private and government offices except those associated with relief and rescue operations will remain closed in 11 coastal districts as a precautionary measure. More than 220 trains on the Kolkata-Chennai route have been cancelled until Saturday. Aviation regulator DGCA announced that flights in and out of Bhubaneswar airport stand cancelled on Friday.
Consequently, the operations of various domestic airlines have been affected. The Central government has also made preparations. The Power Ministry has made arrangements to restore power supply in affected areas with the least downtime.
The Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry plans to move additional water supplies in the affected areas and is keeping in readiness packaged drinking water. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries said it is keeping in readiness packaged ready-to-eat food. The Health Ministry has mobilised emergency medical teams, medicines and also coordinated with the Red Cross to provide assistance.
It has kept ready 17 public health response teams and five quick response medical teams with emergency drugs. The Department of Telecommunication has issued orders to all operators to allow free SMS for cyclone-related messages and inter-operability of mobile networks by other operators. The Petroleum Ministry has ensured availability of sufficient petroleum and oil in the affected areas.
(With PTI inputs)