FANI may make landfall within 1 hour near Puri, 1 million people evacuated ; Flight, Trains cancelled
Bhubaneswar: The Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm “FANI‟ over Westcentral &adjoining Northwest Bay of Bengal moved north-northeastwards with a speed of about 16 kmph in last six hours is currently (5.30am) at about 80 km southsouthwest of Puri (Odisha), about 60 km southeast of Gopalpur (Odisha), about 260 km east northeast of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
According to IMD bulletin, Landfall process is very likely to occur between 8 am to 12 noon today. After the landfall the system is very likely to continue to move north-northeastwards, weaken gradually and enter into West Bengal as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with the wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 115 kmph. It is very likely to move further north- northeastwards and emerge into Bangladesh on 4thApril evening as a Cyclonic Storm with wind speed 60-70 kmph gusting to 80 kmph. The cyclone is being tracked by Doppler Weather Radars Vishakhapatnam & Machilipatnam.
The Odisha government has initiated a large scale evacuation process involving 11 lakh people. The state government has already evacuated about 75% people to safe places, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Vinshnupada Sethy said.
Meanwhile, civil Aviation Ministry has directed closure of flight operations at Biju Pattnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar from midnight for 24 hours. Several carriers like Indigo, Spicejet, Vistara, AirIndia have cancelled their flights to the Bhubaneswar Airport. The East-Coast Railways has also cancelled hundreds of trains and diverted several other trains.