NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Coastal

on Friday faced the wrath of “extremely severe” cyclonic storm ‘Fani’, but

’s improved warning system, successful evacuation of lakhs of people, better Centre-state coordination and the highest ever deployment by NDRF limited casualties. The government officially put the death toll at six, though news agencies reported eight deaths.

It was not that the areas in the path of ‘Fani’ escaped unscathed. There was extensive damage to kuccha houses in Puri, 160 persons were admitted to hospital for treatment, the residence of the SP and DM were badly damaged and there was a serious disruption of power supply.

However, IMD's new regional hurricane model, which is part of India’s ‘zero casualty’ focus on cyclones, helped avert a higher toll and showed how accuracy in tracking and forecasting landfall has progressed since the 1999 super cyclone that killed close to 10,000 people, flattened thousands of dwellings and devastated hundreds of square km of countryside.

After success in responding to the more recent Phailin (October 2013) and Hudhud (October 2014) cyclones, central agencies and state governments were able to manage a massive evacuation. Repeated warnings reduced casualties at sea and infrastructure by way of storm bunkers was available, particularly in states like Odisha and

that are seen to be more vulnerable.

Local disaster management authorities in Odisha and the

(NDRF) were on their toes ahead of Fani’s landfall. The NDRF, in fact, made its highest ever deployment by putting 65 teams (one team consists of 45 personnel) on the ground with 38 in Odisha. Over 11.5 lakh people were evacuated in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal in the past three days. Additional teams for road clearance, law and order and dry food have been rushed.

IMD’s systems came in for praise. “It’s a very significant achievement for IMD. I wrote a congratulatory note to its director general (K J Ramesh) today for averting a major crisis. The department has successfully used its regional hurricane model in addition to other existing models,” said Madhavan Rajeevan, ministry of earth sciences’ (MoES) secretary.

Rajeevan told TOI that the new regional model, having ocean components in addition to atmospheric ones in other models, could track the cyclone better. “Review of existing system will be done on May 13 as the forecast agency wants to further improve its cyclone early warning system,” Rajeevan said.

The preparations were on a war footing. Three Army columns were on standby in Gopalpur and elements of the engineering task force in Panagarh. Similarly, the Army was in readiness in

, Barrackpore, Kolkata and Kankinara. The Navy deployed six ships for relief operations while medical and diving teams were on alert. The IAF kept two C-17s, two C-130s and four AN-32s on standby.

Having learnt from experience, local authorities had stockpiled foodstuff for emergency use while government and private hospitals geared up with more staff on duty and medicines and beds.

The highest number of 2.81 lakh people were evacuated from Ganjam and 4,852 cyclone and flood shelters were identified. Two choppers were on standby for immediate rescue and air dropping of relief material. Odisha has installed an early warning system to ensure last mile connectivity through voice messaging and blowing of sirens.

The improved warning systems have earned international praise too. The UN office for Disaster Risk Reduction had taken note of how disaster management authorities, with support of IMD, “acted with speed” to order evacuation of up to 4 lakh people ahead of ‘Hudhud’.

IMD has been able to reduce its 24-hour forecast error in track prediction from 137km during 2007-11 to 97km during 2012-16. Similarly, its ‘landfall error’ during the period reduced from 101km to 56km.

As per the latest IMD update, ‘Fani’ crossed the Odisha coast close to Puri with maximum sustained wind speed of 175-185 kmph, gusting to 205 kmph, from 8-10 am on Friday.

“It (Fani) is very likely to emerge into Gangetic West Bengal as a severe cyclonic storm with wind speed of 90-100 kmph, gusting to 115 kmph, by early Saturday morning. It is very likely to move further north-northeastwards and emerge into

on Saturday evening as a cyclonic storm with wind speed of 60-70 kmph, gusting to 80 kmph,” IMD said.

Cyclone ‘Fani’ is only the second storm in the past over 126 years to form over the Bay of Bengal and cross India’s mainland in April. The last severe

, formed in April over the Bay of Bengal, had devastated

in 2008. Only 14 severe tropical cyclones have, so far, formed in April over the Bay of Bengal in the 1891-2017 period.