Fani’s rage smashes through holy town of Puri

With wind speeds over 200 kmph, this extremely severe cyclone uprooted trees, rendered thousands homeless, and completely shut down power and communication in Puri.
Hardly any trees and thatched homes were left standing, as Cyclone Fani terrorised residents of the temple town when it made landfall in Puri on Friday morning | PT
Hardly any trees and thatched homes were left standing, as Cyclone Fani terrorised residents of the temple town when it made landfall in Puri on Friday morning | PT

PURI: Ground Zero knew Fani was coming and was, in fact, brimming with anticipation even on Thursday night as Puri went to sleep, having prepared for its imminent landfall. But around 10 am on Friday, the pilgrim city was left in a state of shock and daze. The sheer ferocity of the extremely severe cyclone, which packed wind speeds of close to 200 kmph and pounding rains, had caught the denizens unaware. Fani, was simply the most devastating storm, the holy city and the tourist hot spot of Odisha had ever experienced.

Fani, which is said to be one of the most intense and longest sustaining cyclones since its formation on April 26 in Bay of Bengal, made landfall at south of Puri, near Satapada, at about 8 am on Friday. Light to moderate rainfall continued in Puri town throughout Thursday, but strong winds picked-up late in the night after 12.30 am. While gusty winds and heavy rainfall battered the region after 3 am. The wind speed intensified at 6.30 am, one-and-half hours before Fani made landfall at Odisha coast.

And the dance of devastation began. Trees and poles uprooted, houses collapsed, debris flying everywhere, and complete power and communication network shutdown marked the city as well as major part of the district as the extremely severe cyclone wreaked havoc. Gusty winds and very heavy rainfall activity continued between 8 am and 12 pm. Slum residents, pucca house owners and hoteliers all faced the brunt of the storm which left hundreds of people homeless, jobless and in a situation of serious concern. G Rama Rao of Ramapatnam, which is in front of the sea beach, said, he kept holding the asbestos ceiling of his house along with his six other family members for over three hours as the cyclone razed.“We had to save our house at any cost or we would be rendered homeless,” he said.

A food vendor, Shyama Behera, though was not lucky enough to save his house. The asbestos roof was completely ripped off and all articles damaged. “I do not know what to do now. I hope the people in power and the authorities come forward to help us,” he stated. Happy Mohanty of Harachandi Sahi was in a state of shock as both his house and fast-food stall were damaged during the day. “I do not feel like doing anything now. Things are not going to change soon for me,” he teared-up. In a sad commentary of the trauma inflicted by Fani, there were some who made the most of the calamity. Even as the cyclone rampaged through the city, miscreants resorted to theft and arson from damaged shops and establishments. “Several handicrafts items were stolen from my shop.

I also recovered some items while some goons were looting it,” said Sushant Moharana, who runs a shop at Grand Road. Though the district administration had asked tourists to leave a day ahead of the impending cyclone, some had preferred to stay back and left to rue their decision. They experienced the horror of the cyclone in their hotel rooms and other accommodation. “We came to Puri for the vacation, but then we were alerted about the cyclone. Authorities made arrangements of three special trains but we could not leave due to a communication gap.

The scale and magnitude of the devastation wreaked by Fani has left us shattered too,” Ashish Ghosh of Kolkata, a retired Government employee, vacationing in Puri said. Apart from hundreds of houses, the storm did not spare the State Government offices, hotels and other important installations in the town. The officials residences of Puri Collector Jyoti Prakash Das and SP Uma Shankar Das, Special Circuit House, court guest house, and others were also hit by Fani. Hotels along the Puri sea beach suffered extensive damage with shattered doors, windows and other facilities.

“We have seen 1999 super cyclone, Phailin and Hudhud. We did not expect the storm to be so severe. The glass door of the hotel and windows of several rooms were broken. Rebuilding will take time and money,” said a hotel staff Tapan Ghosh. The outskirts of Puri also met with the same fate with Puri-Bhubaneswar highway coming to a standstill with torn wires and trees blocking the roads. Meanwhile, Puri Collector Jyoti Prakash Dash told The New Indian Express that the first priority was to restore road communication, followed by power restoration and telecommunication operations. On being asked whether there were any loss of lives due to the cyclone, Das said the officials were continuing to collect the information about its impact across the district.

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