Cyclone ‘Fani’, expected to hit the coasts of Odisha tomorrow, has intensified into an ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ with wind speed likely to hit 200 kmph at the time of landfall.
The Central and the state government have put the disaster relief machinery including the NDRF, SDRF and Armed forces on high alert.
About 8,00,000 people have evacuated from low-lying areas of 14 districts in Odisha.
The cyclone is currently around 400 km off the Odisha coast.
The impact of Cyclone ‘Fani’ is likely to be much more severe than ‘Titli’, which had hit the Odisha-Andhra coast last year and killed at least 60 people.
One of three @indiannavy ships rolls 15-20° and quarter deck submerged as they trail #CycloneFani at about 150kms South along Eastern coast @the_hindu pic.twitter.com/v2CGxU7g1k
— Dinakar Peri (@dperi84) May 2, 2019
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday reviewed the preparedness of the official machinery in northern coastal areas of his state and assured all necessary help to the neighbour.
A red alert has been issued for Srikakulam, bordering Odisha, and Vizianagarm districts in Andhra Pradesh as the extremely severe cyclonic storm moved closer to the eastern coast and is expected to cross the coast off Puri on May 3.
It lay centred over West Central Bay of Bengal about 430 km south-southwest of Puri and 190 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
