Cyclone Fani has left three people dead in Odisha as per news reports.
The catastrophic cyclone has damaged buildings, sent parked cars skidding, uprooted trees, and blown away food-stands. It has also caused power cuts and blocks in the water supply.
PTI reported that a teenager was killed when a tree fell on him in the Sakhigopal police station area limits in the Puri district. Flying debris killed a woman in the Nayagarh district as she was fetching water.
A 65-year-old woman died from a suspected heart attack. She was housed inside a cyclone shelter, at Debendranarayanpur village in Kendrapara district.
Director General of Press Information Bureau Sitanshu Kar tweeted that the AIIMS Bhubaneswar campus reported extensive damage, but reassured that all patients, students and staff housed inside were safe.
"Extensive damage to structure of AIIMS Bhubaneswar reported due to #CycloneFani . All patients,staff, students safe.Many water tanks have blown off,lighting poles are down, airconditioners damaged. We have enough supplies, ready to support the state" – Health Secy Preeti Sudan pic.twitter.com/Me1WHqZimY
— Dhirendra Ojha (@DG_PIB) May 3, 2019
Other Twitter users also shared videos about the trail of destruction left by the storm.
https://twitter.com/SUBHRANSHUDASH1/status/1124236824195452928
A crane in Z1 falling on a near by building in Bhubaneswar.#CycloneFani pic.twitter.com/FeaRYJnEmH
— Satyopriyo Dash (@satyopriyodash) May 3, 2019
Cyclone bhubaneswar,odissa pic.twitter.com/W1JAO7ojJs
— Pratyush Gaurav (@PratyushGaurav4) May 3, 2019
Wrath of Cyclone Fani..!!
@abpnewstv @ZeeNews @aajtak#CycloneFani #Bhubaneswar pic.twitter.com/SaVWCfZz7Y— Jyoti Prakash (@JYOTI_PRAKASH90) May 3, 2019
https://twitter.com/ians_india/status/1124239964944748545
AFP reported that meteorologists have warned of the “total destruction” of thatched houses, the uprooting of power and communication poles, the “flooding of escape routes” and damage to crops in some areas.
Over 11 lakh people in 10,000 odd villages and 52 urban local bodies were shifted to 4,000-odd cyclone shelters and other safe houses, officials said.
The West Bengal government has sounded an alert in the coastal areas of the state and Kolkata.
Per the latest reports from PTI, Cyclone Fani is heading towards West Bengal and is expected to reach the state by Friday evening. Coastal areas of the state are experiencing heavy rain and strong winds.
“The eye of the storm is likely to be weakened when it enters West Bengal. The wind speed will be around 100 kmph to 110 kmph,” an official of the meteorological department says.
Fani is said to be the most severe cyclonic storm since the 1999 super cyclone that claimed around 10,000 lives and left a trail of destruction in vast swathes of Odisha, per the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.
(With Agency Inputs)