india

Updated: May 01, 2019 20:56 IST

Authorities in Odisha on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of over a million people living in the likely impact zone of Cyclone Fani which is heading towards the state’s coastline.

People living in areas where the severe cyclonic storm is predicted to hit have been asked to evacuate by Thursday. Authorities also asked all tourists in the coastal temple town of Puri to leave the town by May 2 evening and imposed a ban on fresh tourist arrivals.

Director of the regional meterological centre in Bhubaneswar, HR Biswas said that by 2.30 pm, cyclone Fani which is the strongest pre-monsoon cyclone in the last four decades, lay over the west-central part of the Bay of Bengal, about 610 km south-southwest of Puri and 360 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam, while moving north-northeastwards at a speed of about 6 kmph for last six hours. It is likely to move north-northeastwards and make landfall at Balukhanda near the Puri coast by 5:30 pm on May 3, with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph and gusts up to 205 kmph.

Odisha special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said that from Thursday, collectors in all districts likely to be affected by the cyclone will start moving all vulnerable people living in kuchcha houses, close to the coast or in low lying areas, to 879 multipurpose cyclone shelters. While each of the shelters can accommodate at least 1000 people, many government school buildings will also be used to house people displaced by the cyclone, officials said.

The government has already activated its disaster management machinery.

“Twenty eight National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, 20 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) units and other Fire Services units were being dispatched to the coastal districts of Puri, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Bhadrak on a priority basis. The leaves of doctors and employees in the health as well as energy departments have been cancelled over apprehensions of casualties and damage in the cyclonic storm,” Sethi said.

Also read: Fani ‘extremely severe’, here’s what cyclone categories mean

The IMD warned of a storm surge of about 2.5-4.7-metre high sea waves which may inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur at the time of landfall. Puri district is expected to see large-scale sea water inundation on May 3 with storm surge up to 4.7 metres.

The cyclonic storm was likely to trigger heavy to very heavy rainfall at many coastal and interior districts in Odisha from Thursday and heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places over north Odisha on May 4. Biswas said Odisha is likely to receive more than 20 cm of rainfall due to Cyclone Fani, about 10 per cent of the State’s annual average.

The state is bracing for large scale damage in the cyclone.

Though the wind speed of Fani was not like that of supercyclone of 1999, the 170 kmph speed would ensure total destruction of thatched houses, uprooting of power and communication poles, disruption of railways, overhead power lines and signalling systems, damage to standing crops, plantations, orchards, blowing down of bushy trees like mango and damage of small boats and country crafts,” said weather expert Sarat Mahapatra.

Also read: Fani ‘extremely severe’, here’s what cyclone categories mean

“Fani is expected to cause more damage to coastal Odisha as compared to cyclone Titli that had hit the Odisha-Andhra coast last year during Dussehra,” said Mahapatra. Though Titli did not make landfall in Odisha, the resultant rain led to landslides in Gajapati district killing more than 60 people.

The East Coast Railway announced the cancellation or regulation of 81 trains on the Bhadrak-Bhubaneswar-Puri-Visakhapatnam section. Trains from Bangalore, Chennai and Secundrabad to Howrah in the evening of May 2 have been cancelled. Officials in Bhubaneswar’s Nandankanan zoo also decided to close the zoo from May 2 to May 4 and keep all the animals in feeding chambers.

All colleges coming under administrative control of Higher Education Dept and located in Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Khurda, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts will remain closed from 2nd May to 4th May.

The Odisha government has already ordered closure of all schools in the state. The Biju Patnaik University of Technology re-scheduled its examinations in all its 164 colleges scheduled for May 2, 3 and 4. The Election Commission gave its nod for shifting of the EVMs to safer locations in Odisha, where four-phased elections were completed on April 29. The EC has lifted the restrictions under Model Code of Conduct in the 11 districts that are likely to be affected by the storm.

The administration of Jagannath Temple in Puri decided to replace the ‘Patitapabana Bana’ (temple flag) with a short flag as a precautionary measure to protect the spoked wheel ‘Nilachakra’ during the cyclone.

The state government has assigned 12 senior IAS and state civil service officers in as many districts for supervision of restoration work of Cyclone Fani. Odisha DGP R.P Sharma also deputed 11 senior IPS officers to as many districts to oversee the police arrangements and coordinate with the district administration and other connected line agencies and field functionaries for rescue and relief operations.