Fri 03 May 2019:
Tropical Cyclone Fani made landfall on the coast of the Indian state of Odisha at around 8 a.m. local time (0330 UTC) on Friday, with forecasters predicting that the storm would cause widespread devastation.
The storm is the fiercest in the region since a 1999 cyclone that killed some 10,000 people in Odisha. Winds brought by the cyclone were reportedly gusting at up to 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour when it made landfall. By Friday afternoon, however, Fani had weakened to a “very severe” storm as it continued toward the state of West Bengal to the north-northeast. It is expected to travel further on to Bangladesh by late on Saturday.
Early reports spoke of considerable damage in the tourist town of Puri in Odisha, with power supply and telephone lines brought down. However, no casualties had been reported so far, Odisha’s special relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi told Reuters news agency. Read more: Mother Nature’s wrath: Is climate change making mega-hurricanes the new normal?
Massive evacuation operation
India’s National Disaster Response Force said around 1.2 million people had been moved from low-lying areas in Odisha before the storm struck and were staying in nearly 4,000 shelters. A government minister in Bangladesh said 500,000 people were being taken out of seven coastal districts.
India’s cyclone season can last from April to December. The storms often cause deaths and damage to crops and property in both India and neighboring Bangladesh.
tj/msh (Reuters, AP)
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