India Today : May 02, 2019, 09:35 AM
Cyclone Fani is expected to make landfall in coastal areas of Odisha on May 3. The cyclonic storm has intensified into an "extreme severe cyclonic". An IMD bulletin released at 5.30 am on Thursday said that Fani is located around 450 km south-southwest of Puri.Fani is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during the afternoon of May 3 with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph.The cyclonic storm is likely to impact coastal districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore.The IMD also wared of a storm surge of about 1.5 metres height which may inundate low- lying coastal areas of Odisha's Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts at the time of landfall.Fani is very likely to move north-northeastwards and cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during the afternoon of May 3 with a maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph.The cyclonic storm is likely to impact coastal districts like Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore.The IMD also warned of a storm surge of about 1.5 metres height which may inundate low- lying coastal areas of Odisha's Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts at the time of landfall.Railways has cancelled at least 103 trains and diverted two more in view of cyclone Fani.Some of the trains which have been cancelled include Howrah-Chennai Central Coromandal Express, Patna-Eranakulam Express, New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express, Howrah-Hyderabad East Coast Express, Bhubaneswar-Rameswaram Express.The railways said that it will grant a full refund to passengers for the cancelled or diverted trains if the tickets are produced for cancellation within three days from the scheduled date of journey.East Coast Railway will run a special train from Puri to Shalimar in Kolkata in view of the return of tourists from the beach town due to cyclone Fani. It will start its journey at 12 noon.This train will reach Bhubaneswar at 1.30pm. It will have stoppages at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur Kendujhar Road, Bhadrak, Balasore and Kharagpur.Over 8 lakh people are being evacuated from coastal areas in Odisha. About 879 cyclone centres have been set up in Odisha to shelter people evacuated people. People are being evacuated from Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur.The government has cancelled leaves and holidays of all the officials in the Energy Department as part of preparedness in view of the possible damage to power supply and distribution during the cyclone.All kinds of leaves of doctors and health staff have been cancelled up to May 15. The Health Department had asked all those on leave to report back to respective headquarters by Wednesday evening.East Coast Railway will run a special train from Puri to Shalimar in Kolkata in view of the return of tourists from the beach town due to cyclone Fani. It will start its journey at 12 noon.This train will reach Bhubaneswar at 1.30pm. It will have stoppages at Khurda Road, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jajpur Kendujhar Road, Bhadrak, Balasore and Kharagpur.8 lakh people to be evacuatedOver 8 lakh people are being evacuated from coastal areas in Odisha. About 879 cyclone centres have been set up in Odisha to shelter people evacuated people. People are being evacuated from Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur.The government has cancelled leaves and holidays of all the officials in the Energy Department as part of preparedness in view of the possible damage to power supply and distribution during the cyclone.All kinds of leaves of doctors and health staff have been cancelled up to May 15. The Health Department had asked all those on leave to report back to respective headquarters by Wednesday evening.