Cyclone Fani: Nearly 800,000 evacuated in India ahead of storm

Nearly 800,000 people in India’s eastern coastal districts have been evacuated ahead of the expected arrival of a major cyclone packing winds of up to 200 kilometres per hour, officials said on Thursday.

Tropical Cyclone Fani, brewing in the Bay of Bengal some 450 kilometres offshore and moving westwards, is expected to make landfall on Friday afternoon near the Hindu holy town of Puri.

A state relief department official told AFP news agency that 780,000 people were moved to safer places overnight from at least 13 districts of Odisha state that will bear the brunt of the powerful cyclone.

“More people are being moved to safer places,” an official from the department told AFP on Thursday.

Some 1,000 shelters in schools and government buildings have been set up to accommodate more than a million people.

The office of the state’s special relief commissioner said local authorities had been told to identify “all vulnerable people… and shift them to multi-purpose cyclone/flood shelters”.

“Arrangements have already been made for free kitchen, safe drinking water, lighting, health and sanitation,” it said in a statement.

HR Biswas, director of the meteorological centre in state capital Bhubaneshwar, said at least 11 districts would be affected by severe rainfall.

“We have suggested people to stay indoors,” he told reporters.

The neighbouring coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also been put on high alert.

Navy on standby

The cyclone was expected to pack sustained wind speeds of 180-190 km/h, bringing gusts of up to 200 km/h, and is equivalent in strength to a Category 3 to 4 hurricane.

It will be the fourth such storm to hit the country’s east coast in three decades.

India’s weather office has warned that the high speed winds can uproot trees, flatten crops, damage homes, power and communication infrastructure along with flooding in low lying areas.

India’s weather department, in an advisory, asked all fishermen in the state to return to shore by late Wednesday.

The department warned of “potential threat of flying objects … Extensive uprooting of communication and power poles …Disruption of rail, road”.

This May 1, 2019, satellite image obtained courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows Tropical Cyclone Fani intensifying in the Bay of Bengal [HO/NOAA/AFP]

One local agency said that it had kept around 300 boats and crew on standby for rescue or relief work in the next 48 to 72 hours.

On Wednesday, authorities deployed emergency personnel and ordered the navy on standby. 

Tourists have also been advised to leave coastal towns in West Bengal and Odisha, state government officials said.

Storms regularly hit eastern and southeastern India between April and December. In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead and more than 600 missing in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states.

Odisha had to evacuate some 300,000 people last October when its coastal districts were battered by cyclone Titli, with winds up to 150 kilometres per hour and heavy rains.

A super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours, killing 10,000 people, two decades ago.