Cyclone Fani finally made landfall in Odisha`s Puri district. At the time of landfall, the wind speed was in the bracket of 180-190 kmph, gusting up to 200-220 kmph at times. The authorities have already moved about million people to safety in temporary shelters and people are advised to not head outdoors.
As reiterated earlier, Fani was just short of a strength of Super Cyclonic storm. In fact, the kind of cloud configuration, wind speed and eye it was sustaining, Fani is now the strongest cyclonic storm since the Super Cyclone that had struck India in 1999. It had also made landfall at Puri that had claimed about 10,000 lives.
The cyclone is likely to affect around 10,000 villages and more than 50 towns in its path. More than 140 trains have been cancelled so far keeping in view the cyclone’s trail. All flights from Bhubaneswar had been cancelled since yesterday midnight.
The Extremely Severe Cyclone Fani has already given some torrential rain in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, while West Bengal is now gearing up for some heavy rains. Already a few videos were seen emerging from West Bengal yesterday as a precursor to intensity of the blowing winds-
After creating havoc in Odisha the cyclone will start losing its intensity and will move in north-northeast ward direction towards the West Bengal coast. Fani has already weakened into a very severe cyclone by afternoon. But it is likely to reach West Bengal as a cyclonic storm, thus powerful enough to give torrential rains and high velocity winds.
According to the sources,12,000 poles, 50 cranes, 40 pole drilling machines, 40 generators, 70 power saws, 2,000 transformers, wires, conductors, cross arms, insulators were already sent to the cyclone-affected places and in addition, other necessary items are being procured.
Courtesy: www.skymetweather.com