Cyclone Fani Highlights: The temple town of Puri was worst affected by the cyclone. (PTI)
Cyclone Fani Highlights: Cyclone Fani weakened as it reached West Bengal Saturday morning, bringing a sigh of relief to the eastern state and neighbouring Bangladesh. The city witnessed wind speeds of 30-40 kmph with moderate to heavy rainfall overnight, a senior IMD official told PTI. There was no report of any casualty or major damage in the districts through which the cyclone passed, he added. Cyclone Fani touched the eastern coast Friday leaving at least eight people dead and swamping towns and villages. The temple town of Puri was worst affected by the cyclone.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday talked to the governors of Odisha and West Bengal and assured central assistance to cyclone-hit states. PM Modi also announced that he will visit Odisha on May 6 to take stock of the situation there.
A red alert has been issued in coastal areas and fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea. Several districts including East and West Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas besides, Howrah, Hooghly, Jhargram, Kolkata and the Sundarbans are likely to be hit by the storm which will then move towards Bangladesh and taper off. Six NDRF teams belonging to two battalions have been deployed in several places including Jhargram, Narayangarh in Kharagpur, Ramnagar in Digha, Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas, Dhamakhali and Hasnabad in North 24 Parganas.
Cyclone Fani Highlights: Heavy to extremely heavy rain is expected at one or two places of the coastal areas of West Bengal from Friday evening to early Saturday morning. (Express photo: Partha Paul)
The Indian Air Force Saturday sent three C-130J Super Hercules aircraft to Bhubaneswar from Hindan Air Base for humanitarian aid and disaster relief, an IAF spokesperson said. The aircraft are carrying approximate 45 tonnes of relief material including medicines for the locations affected by Cyclone Fani. "The IAF had remained on hot standby for a launch ever since the first warning about the cyclone was received. The aircraft were positioned at Hindan for a short notice take off, waiting for the restoration of landing facilities at cyclone affected airfields," he said. The Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopter landed at Bhubaneswar for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. (PTI)
According to Bangladesh media reports, at least 14 people are feared died and more than 63 people injured in Bangladesh as cyclone Fani hit the country. The Dhaka Tribune reported that the 14 deaths from eight districts, including Noakhali, Bhola and Lakshmipur, which were among the places worst-hit by the cyclone. The dead also included a two-year-old boy and four women. The deadly storm uprooted trees, knocked down power lines and damaged more than 500 houses. Bangladesh authorities said over 1.6 million people were shifted to safer places as about 36 villages were flooded after the storm surge breached embankments in the country's coastal areas. (PTI)
Indian Railways will resume all its train services running from Bhubaneswar on Sunday, barely hours after the state was hit by cyclone Fani. However, two trains originating from Bhubaneswar will not resume, and services to Puri are unlikely to begin before May 10, news agency PTI reported. JP Mishra, the spokesperson of the East Coast Railway, said, "Train services will run normally from Bhubaneshwar from tomorrow, May 5. This is for originating trains from Bhubaneshwar. Puri has been affected, but since it's not on the mainline, train services will not be affected." (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called up West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi to take feedback on cyclone Fani and enquire about the ground situation in the state. During his conversation with Tripathi, the prime minister reiterated the Centre's readiness to provide all help needed to cope with the extremely severe cyclonic storm, reported news agency PTI. Modi took to Twitter and wrote, "Spoke to Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi Ji, the Governor of West Bengal on the situation due to Cyclone Fani. Reiterated the Centre’s readiness to provide all help needed to cope with the cyclone. Also conveyed my solidarity with the people of Bengal in the wake of Cyclone Fani."
Hours after cyclone 'Fani' crossed the coastal state of Andhra Pradesh, a heat wave swept the state, taking temperatures to over 45 degrees Celsius. West Godavari faced the maximum heat with Polavaram Mandal recording 45.89 degrees Celsius, followed by Chintalapudi at 45.77 degrees Celsius, and Kovvuru at 45.63 degrees Celsius.
Indian Coast Guard distributed food and water packets to the villages and districts affected by cyclone Fani in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur.
Several teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) engaged in rescue and relief operations in the districts affected by cyclone Fani in West Bengal.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation Saturday said that all domestic scheduled airlines have committed to move relief materials and medicines without any cost, joint secretary Usha Padhee tweeted. "Doing our bit to help authorities to move relief materials/ medicines to affected areas. All domestic scheduled airlines have committed to move these cargos without any cost. Control room set up at @MoCA_GoI to monitor & coordinate," she wrote on Twitter.
The Indian Coast Guard has deployed ships and helicopters in Odisha to carry out search and rescue operations in the districts affected by the cyclone. The official handle of the Coast Guard tweeted, "While 02 @CoastGuard Ships and 01 Helicopter deployed off #Odisha Coast continue to look for marooned fishing boats at sea if any #Haldia dock reports operational normal as of now," and tagged the Defence Ministry and Indian Navy.
Officials in Andhra Pradesh said that cyclone Fani uprooted at least 10,000 coconut trees in the state and caused damage worth Rs 58.6 crore, adding that agriculture and horticulture crops were also destroyed. The damage was mainly caused in Srikakulam district, which borders Odisha. Over 958 acres of agriculture and horticulture crops were destroyed in the district, officials said. In adjoining Vizianagaram, over 29 acres of banana orchards were destroyed. As many as 2.74 lakh people in 145 coastal villages in Srikakulam district were affected by Fani but there has been no casualty. We have opened 139 relief camps in the district where 15,460 persons were being sheltered. In Vizianagaram, 2,000 people were shifted to 15 relief camps," state chief secretary L V Subrahmanyam said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said except for damaging a few huts, there was no extensive damage in West Bengal due to cyclone Fani. "The entire administration was awake the whole night. We were very worried about the cyclone Fani," Mamata said. She added, "There were not much damage in the state. At least 850 mud houses in the districts were partially damaged while 12 were completely destroyed. Around 42,000 people have been evacuated by our people who took them to relief shelters. The civic services have been restored in Digha, Mandarmoni, whereas it is work in progress at other places."
NDRF carries out rescue and relief operations in all the districts of Odisha affected by cyclone Fani.
Budget carrier IndiGo is all set to resume its flight operations from Bhubaneswar's Biju Patnaik International Airport and Kolkata's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. From Bhubaneswar, the operations will resume at 5:20 pm, while from Kolkata, the flight operations resumed at 3:30pm onwards.
The Airports Authority of India Saturday evening said flight operations to and from Bhubaneswar's Biju Patnaik International Airport have resumed.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu appealed to the commerce and industry chambers to start the rescue and relief operations in the states affected by cyclone Fani. He took to Twitter and wrote, "Appealing all in Commerce&Industry organise #relief for the unfortunate affected by #FaniCyclone We will organise best possible way to ensure the help reaches those who needs it most.All Chambers must immediately respond to this calamity," while tagging industry companies like FICCI and ASSOCHAM. (PTI)
The NDRF released a statement saying 65 teams have been pre-positioned in various parts of the states affected by the cyclone. Relief and rescue operations will start soon. A total number of 44 teams have been deployed in Odisha, while 9 teams have been deployed in West Bengal, 3 in Andhra Pradesh, 1 team each in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland, and 2 teams each in Jharkhand, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy Saturday launched the rescue and rehabilitation operations in Odisha in the aftermath of the cyclone. Two Maritime Recce sorties were undertaken by the Dornier aircraft of the Navy revealing widespread destruction localised around the temple town of Puri, reported news agency PTI quoting official statement. The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command personally undertook an aerial survey of the cyclone-affected area Saturday morning and visited INS Chilka to review the relief efforts, PTI said.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on Saturday said that it has started an emergency road service team to aid its customers who are affected by cyclone Fani in Odisha and West Bengal. The service, termed 'Hyundai Relief Task Force', will enhance services for vehicle-owners affected by the cyclone. The company's statement read, "Hyundai has stationed a dedicated emergency road service team to support the Fani Cyclone affected customers/ vehicles along with 26 flatbed trucks and 21 Towing Trucks to assist the customers." (PTI)
The Indian Coast Guard Saturday morning conducted an aerial survey of Odisha's Puri in the aftermath of cyclone Fani.
Eastern Railway, in a tweet, said that they have resumed normal services over West Bengal's Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, and Malda Divisions since morning.
The cyclone is likely to track northeastwards and move completely over Bangladesh
As per Skymet Weather, cyclone Fani, which has already weakened into a deep depression, is like to weaken more and make move further northwards on Sunday. Skymet Weather's forecast for Sunday said that a trough (channel) has formed over the coastal line of Tamil Nadu, while a cyclone circulation has formed over south Rajasthan and its adjoining areas. A channel from here is running up to Vidarbha and parts of central Madhya Pradesh.
Torrential rains to hit Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar in the wake of Cyclone Fani. The cyclone hit Digha town in West Bengal early morning today.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik Saturday said that a record 1.2 million people were evacuated in 24 hours, 3.2 lakh from Ganjam, 1.3 lakh from Puri and almost 7,000 kitchens catering to 9,000 shelters were made functional overnight in the wake of Cyclone Fani. This mammoth exercise involved more than 45,000 volunteers, the chief minister said. (ANI)
Air India subsidiary Alliance Air is operating flight from Ranchi to Bhubaneswar. ETD is 1 pm.
Air India has announced additional flight today (Delhi-Bhubaneswar at 1500 hrs and Bhubaneswar-Delhi at 1745 hrs) for passengers stranded due to Cyclone Fani.
The UN agency for disaster reduction has commended the Indian Meteorological Department's "almost pinpoint accuracy" of early warnings that helped authorities conduct a well-targeted evacuation plan and minimise the loss of life as extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani made landfall near the coastal city of Puri.
"India's zero casualty approach to managing extreme weather events is a major contribution to the implementation of the #SendaiFramework and the reduction of loss of life from such events," Mami Mizutori, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of the Geneva-based UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), said.
(PTI)
Cyclone Fani weakened as it reached West Bengal Saturday morning, bringing a sigh of relief to the eastern state and neighbouring Bangladesh, PTI reported. The city witnessed wind speeds of 30-40 kmph with moderate to heavy rainfall overnight, a senior IMD official told PTI. There was no report of any casualty or major damage in the districts through which the cyclone passed, he added.
"It is very likely to move further north-northeastwards and enter Bangladesh around noon as a deep depression with wind speeds of 50-60 kmph, gusting to 70 kmph," the official said.
The very severe cyclonic storm weakened into a severe cyclonic storm over the Odisha coast, before moving further north-northeastwards and entering West Bengal through Kharagpur in West Midnapore around 12.30 am on Saturday.
"It has moved to Arambagh in Hooghly and is now in Nadia district...and is moving towards Murshidabad district," Bandyopadhyay said.
(With PTI inputs)
The BJP has rescheduled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies in Bengal in view of cyclone Fani. BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Friday said they have also rescheduled party’s national president Amit Shah’s rallies.
“We have rescheduled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies that were slated on May 5 at Tamluk and Jhargram. Those rallies will be held on May 6. Similarly, we have postponed Amit Shah’s rallies at Ghatal, Midnapore and Bishnupur from May 6 to May 7. We believe that elections come and go, but it is more important to engage in public service at this moment. All our karyakartas will be on the ground to help the affected people,” Vijayvargiya said.
Flight operations resumed in Kolkata at 8 am Saturday despite the cyclonic storm Fani hitting West Bengal early today.
Air India to deliver relief material to Cyclone Fani affected Odisha free of cost.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the respective governors of Odisha and West Bengal on the situation in the states due to Cyclone Fani. PM Modi assured all central assistance needed to cope up with the cyclone.
As Cyclone Fani pounded the Odisha coast on Friday, the name, which was suggested by Bangladesh, also evoked curiosity. Mritunjay Mohapatra, the additional director general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said Fani, pronounced as ‘Foni’, means a snake’s hood. Read more to know how cyclones are named.
According to Indian Meteorological Department, severe Cyclone Fani Saturday weakened into a cyclonic storm and lay centered at 60 km NW of Kolkata at 5:30 am on 4th May. The cyclone is expected to weaken into deep depression and move into Bangladesh by noon.
With Cyclone Fani entering Bengal, the state administration, municipal corporations and police personnel have taken all efforts to ensure adequate precautionary measures.
The administration has set up a special control room and floated helpline numbers — 1070 (toll free) and 22535185. Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and assured central assistance to the cyclone-hit state.
Cyclone Fani hit Digha town in West Bengal early Saturday morning.