780,000 evacuated in India ahead of fierce tropical cyclone Fani

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Nearly 800,000 people in India's eastern coastal state of Odisha have been evacuated ahead of the expected arrival of a major cyclone packing winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, officials said Thursday.

The Indian weather service said Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani is expected to make landfall on Friday afternoon near the Hindu holy town of Puri.

The state's authorities said they hoped to have evacuated 800,000 people from the state's coastal districts by Thursday morning, before the brunt of the powerful cyclone.

The Indian weather service said Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani is gathering near the Hindu holy town of Puri with gusts of up to 200 km/h. /AFP Photo

The storm, which reports said would be the biggest to hit eastern India in nearly two decades, was brewing in the Bay of Bengal some 450 kilometers offshore and moving westwards.

The cyclone was expected to pack sustained wind speeds of 180-190 km/h, bringing gusts of up to 200 km/h, and is equivalent in strength to a Category 3 to 4 hurricane.

India's weather office has warned that the high-speed winds can uproot trees, flatten crops, damage homes, power and communication infrastructure along with flooding in low-lying areas.

The neighboring coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also been put on high alert.

Storms regularly hit eastern and southeastern India between April and December. In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead and more than 600 missing in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states.

Odisha had to evacuate some 300,000 people last October when its coastal districts were battered by cyclone Titli, with winds up to 150 km/h per hour and heavy rains.

People evacuated as Cyclone Hudhud is expected to hit the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha at Bheemili village, Visakhapatnam, India, October 11, 2014. /VCG Photo

Local media reports say some 1,000 shelters in schools and government buildings have been set up to accommodate more than a million people.

The office of the state's special relief commissioner said local authorities had been told to identify "all vulnerable people... and shift them to multipurpose cyclone/flood shelters.”

"Arrangements have already been made for free kitchen, safe drinking water, lighting, health and sanitation," it said in a statement.

One local agency said that it had kept around 300 boats and crew on standby for rescue or relief work in the next 48 to 72 hours.

HR Biswas, director of the meteorological center in state capital Bhubaneshwar, said at least 11 districts would be affected by severe rainfall.

(Cover image: Indian residents walk along a breakwater at Kasimedu fishing harbur as cyclone Phethai approaches the eastern Indian coast, in Chennai, India, December 16, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP