The Devastating action of Cyclone Fani on Odisha

Cyclone Fani, one of the strongest storms to batter the Indian subcontinent in decades, made landfall near Puri, India, around 8 a.m. on Friday, lashing the coast with winds gusting at more than 120 miles per hour. • Tens of millions of people are potentially in the cyclone’s path, and more than a million were evacuated this week from coastal areas. Large sections of coastal India and Bangladesh are threatened by storm surges, and heavy rains could cause rivers to breach. The fast-moving storm struck the coast as the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. Several hours after it made landfall, the cyclone was downgraded to a “very severe” storm from an “extremely severe” storm. A relief official for the state of Odisha, where the cyclone made landfall, said Friday afternoon that many trees had been uprooted and houses destroyed, and that there had been unverified reports of deaths. The official, Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra, said the situation would be clearer in a few hours. NDTV, a major Indian news network, reported that three people had been killed. A powerful cyclone has lashed coastal areas of eastern India with torrential rain and winds gusting up to 200km an hour, killing at least two people and forcing a million others to look for safe shelters. "I can confirm two deaths for now. One old man in one of the shelters died because of [a] heart attack. Another person went out in the storm despite our warnings and died because a tree fell on him," Odisha state special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi told AFP news agency on Friday. Cyclone Fani roared ashore in eastern India on Friday, battering densely-populated Odisha state with 125-mile-per-hour winds and rain before weakening and taking aim at the sprawling metropolis of Kolkata. A herculean evacuation effort in recent days saw more than 1 million people flee the low-lying coastal areas, but one official said the storm still left at least two people dead as it came ashore. Odisha state disaster relief coordinator Bishnupada Sethi told French news agency AFP that a man died of a heart attack in a shelter and a second person "went out in the storm despite our warnings and died because a tree fell on him." India's central government did not immediately confirm any fatalities. The India Meteorological Department said the "extremely severe" cyclone struck Odisha at about 8 a.m. on Friday morning, by which time almost 1.2 million people had been evacuated to higher ground. It was downgraded later Friday from "extremely severe" to "very severe," and the Meteorological Department said it was forecast to weaken further into a "severe" cyclone as it moved northeast toward Kolkata. Fani is the strongest cyclone to hit India's coast since a storm in 1999 left more than 10,000 people dead. Advances in early warning systems and evacuation planning meant the new disaster was likely to claim far fewer lives, but it could still bring widespread flooding that damages infrastructure and poses a significant human health risk. Please be careful and safe Before the cyclone Remain calm and ignore rumours Keep your mobile phones charged Use SMS Stay tuned to the news for weather updates Store documents and other valuables in waterproof containers Prepare an emergency kit Carry out repairs at home Don't leave sharp objects loose Untie cattle or other animals During/after the cyclone (if indoors) Switch off electrical mains, gas supply Keep doors and windows shut If your house is unsafe, leave early before the onset of the cyclone Listen to a radio/transistor Drink boiled/chlorinated water Rely only on official warnings During/after the cyclone (if outdoors) Don't enter damaged buildings Watch out for broken electric poles, wires, other sharp objects Seek a safe shelter ASAP For fishermen Keep a radio set with extra batteries handy Keep boats/rafts tied in a safe place Don't venture out to sea. When the Cyclone starts: 1. Listen to the radio (All India Radio stations give weather warnings). 2. Keep monitoring the warnings. This will help you prepare for a cyclone emergency. 3. Pass the information to others. 4. Ignore rumours and do not spread them; this will help to avoid panic situations. 5. Believe in the official information. 6. When a cyclone alert is on for your area continue normal working but stay alert to the radio warnings. 7. Stay alert for the next 24 hours as a cyclone alert means that the danger is within 24 hours. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs helpline number 1938 Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. #fani #india