Severe cyclonic storm "Fani", which reached southeast and the southwest Bay of Bengal on Monday evening, is likely to intensify further into "extremely severe" cyclonic storm in the next 36 hours, says the India Meteorological Department. "It is very likely to move northwestwards till May 1 evening and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards towards the Odisha coast", the bulletin said.
Fani, the severe cyclonic storm located over southeast and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, about 800 kilometres south of Puri, is likely to hit Odisha on May 3, 2019.
Coastal Puri town, some 62 kms (40 miles) from Bhubaneshwar, has also been put a high alert.
While the District Collectors were busy preparing the administration to evacuate people from villages close to the sea or villages alongside the rivers from Thursday, senior police officers have been sent to the coastal districts to coordinate with the district administration and other connected line agencies and field functionaries for rescue and relief operations.
The 880 cyclone shelters in coastal and southern districts have been kept ready to accomodate the evacuees, Sethi said, adding that in districts like Gajapati and Rayagada, where such facilities do not exist, they will be housed in schools and anganwadi centres.
US working to designate Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group: White House
Several political parties in Turkey, Tunisia and Jordan consider themselves as the Muslim Brotherhood or have ties to it. But the movement is now banned and thousands of its supporters and much of its leadership have been jailed.
It is yet unclear where Cyclone Fani will make landfall, but Met Department predictions point at the north coast of Andhra Pradesh, likely around May 2 or 3. The CEO said that Model code of conduct has been lifted in 11 coastal and adjoining districts to expedite relief, rescue and restoration works.
Heavy to very heavy rains are predicted over few parts such as Medinipur, 24 South Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah, Bankura, Hooghly and Bardhaman.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed total 41 teams - eight in Andhra Pradesh, 28 in Odisha and five in West Bengal. In addition, the NDRF is keeping on standby 13 teams in West Bengal and 10 in Andhra Pradesh, a Central government official said.
Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered advance release of financial assistance of Rs 340.875 crore for Odisha for undertaking preventive and relief measures in response to cyclonic storm "FANI". It also asked the people in areas likely to be affected by the storm to remain indoors and advised against operation of motorboats and small ships in the sea.
A similar cyclone in 1999, only much more destructive, killed over 9,800 people in Odisha.
Comments