Cyclone 'Fani' makes landfall on India’s East coast

• Cyclone 'Fani' makes landfall in Puri near Odisha on Friday morning at 08.00 Hours with speed of gusting 180-200 kmph.
• According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), as at 6.30am on Friday Fani was around 70 km away from the south-southwest of Puri.

The ‘extremely severe’ Cyclonic storm 'Fani' has begun making landfall in Puri near Odisha as of 8 am on Friday morning with speed of gusting 180-200 kmph. Despite the government disaster management measures, The cyclone is going to affect as many as 10,000 villages.

LANDFALL STARTED AT 0800 HRS IST. PART OF THE EYE LIES OVER LAND AT 0830 HRS IST. THE ENTIRE PROCESS OF EYE ENTERING INTO LAND WILL BE COMPLETED IN THE NEXT 2 HOURS.

— India Met. Dept. (@Indiametdept) May 3, 2019

Nearly a million people have already been evacuated by Indian authorities; the storm is the most severe cyclone since 1999.

It's almost here. #CycloneFANI 70 Kms away from Puri. Landfall anytime bewteen 8 - 10 am. @CNNnews18 pic.twitter.com/3KLpE6RuCA

— Shreya Dhoundial (@shreyadhoundial) May 3, 2019

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), At 6.30am on Friday Fani was around 70 km away from the south-southwest of Puri.
At 5.30pm on Thursday ‘Fani’ was located at a distance of 320 km South from Puri. It hit Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali around Puri. The cyclone is expected to move towards West Bengal with a speed of 115 Kmph. Moreover, the cyclone is expected to move towards north-east region and emerge into Bangladesh on Saturday Evening, said IMD.
Storm surge of about 1.5 metres height above astronomical tide is very likely to inundate low lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha at the time of landfall.

The affect of landfall has already begun. North Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha are receiving light.

The IMD said sea conditions are "very likely to be very rough" to high off north Tamilnadu, Puducherry, along and south Andhra Pradesh coasts till Friday. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into deep sea areas. It warned that the cyclone is likely to cause damages to all types of houses, communication and power poles, road and rail infrastructure.

The Odisha government said that around 900 cyclone shelters have been made ready to house the evacuees. "It is estimated that a total of 1150,000 people will have to be moved to safer areas, of which about 330,000 people have already been evacuated," a statement said.

Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) have been put in place.

Sinha directed establishment of a central toll free helpline for the general public and asked the Central ministries to set up control rooms to coordinate rescue and relief operations.

The Civil Aviation Ministry informed that flight operations from Bhubaneswar were suspended from midnight of Thursday, while operations from Kolkata airport also will remain suspended from Friday morning until conditions improve.

The railways have already suspended operations of trains in Odisha and all trains in Bhadrak-Vizianagaram section (of the Kolkata-Chennai route) has been cancelled till Saturday. A total of 140 trains including 83 passenger trains have been cancelled so far.

The Indian Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations while the Army and Air Force units in the states have also been put on standby.