Mumbai: According to the officials, three people died in separate incidents as cyclone Fani hit the Odisha coast on Friday.
Special Relief Commissioner B P Sethi said three people were reported dead in different incidents in Puri, Nayagarh and Kendrapara districts
A teenager was killed when a tree banged down on him at a place within Sakhigopal police station area limits in Puri district.
Another incident took place in Nayagarh district where flying debris from concrete structure hit a woman as she had gone to fetch water.
Other than these two incidents, in Debendranarayanpur village in Kendrapara district, a 65-year-old woman died after a suspected heart attack at cyclone shelter, as said by the official information.
The cyclonic system, which was around 28 m wide, is moving at around 30 kmph, said Biswas. But according to the system the winds are reading speeds of up to 175 kilometres per hour that may go up to 200 kmph, leaving in their wake uprooted trees, including in the state capital Bhubaneshwar.
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NDRF- National Disaster Response Force DIG Randeep Rana said not many casualties were reported so far as precautionary measures were in place.
The state administration had already shifted nearly 11 lakh people two days ahead of the cyclone from about 10,000 villages and 52 urban agglomerations. This is probably the largest evacuation exercise at the time of a natural calamity in the country.
Telecommunication lines got snapped in several parts of state capital Bhubaneswar and several other areas. Mobile towers were damaged and power supply was disconnected in many places
Even Chief minister Mamata Banerjee cancelled all her election rallies that were planned over the next 48 hours and getting down to monitoring the situation.
“The eye of the storm is likely to be weakened when it enters West Bengal. The wind speed will be around 100 kmph to 110 kmph,” an official of the meteorological department said.
Also Read: Cyclone Fani Hits Odisha Coast Over Millions Evacuated
Apart from this, a red alert has also been issued in coastal areas and fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea.
Several other districts like East and West Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas besides, Howrah, Hooghly, Jhargram, Kolkata and the Sundarbans are likely to be hit by the storm that would then move towards Bangladesh and taper off. Airports in Bhubaneswar and Kolkata have been closed. Even aviation has been disrupted from 3 p.m Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday said aviation regulator DGCA in New Delhi.
In a series of tweets, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said Friday that all airlines must immediately respond to the concerns of passengers affected by Cyclone Fani
“We are ready to offer the help needed for the stranded due to cyclonic storm Fani. The control room, helplines are manned all times to assist affected passengers. All Airlines must immediately respond to the concerns of passengers,” he tweeted
Prabhu also said his ministry will work with the governments of the affected states to assist them in rescue and relief operations
More than 220 trains on the Kolkata-Chennai route have been cancelled until Saturday.
Fani, an extremely severe cyclonic storm battered the Odisha coast on Friday morning, uprooting trees, blowing away thatched huts, and disrupting communication links.
