New Delhi/Dhaka - A powerful cyclone left a trail of
destruction along India's eastern coast on Friday, killing three
people, damaging homes and forcing huge numbers of people to flee to
shelters.
Cyclone Fani made landfall near the temple town of Puri at 8 am (0230
GMT) bringing torrential rains and wind speeds of up to 205
kilometres per hour, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Three people died and over 160 people were injured, mostly in house
and tree collapses, disaster response force and state officials said.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, where the storm was expected Saturday
evening, four people died in a rice field in a lighting strike,
police said.
Fani, the strongest storm to hit India in several years, weakened to
wind speeds of about 135 kilometres per hour Friday night as it moved
inland toward the neighbouring West Bengal state, the IMD said.
Fani, which means hood of the snake in Bengali, destroyed thatched
homes, uprooted trees and disrupted power supplies and transport
particularly in Puri, Cuttack and Bhubaneshwar districts, said
Randeep Rana, a top National Disaster Response Force official.
Tens of thousands of trees were uprooted and summer crops, orchards
and plantations were also devastated on a large scale.
In both India and Bangladesh, mass evacuations were carried out and
residents moved to safe shelters.
In Odisha alone, 1.2 million people were taken to more than 4,000
shelters in about 24 hours, said the government. In Bangladesh, up to
2.5 million people are set to be evacuated by Friday night.
Schools were closed, and flights and trains in Odisha were also
cancelled, state disaster management official Prabhat Ranjan
Mahapatra said. Naval warships and helicopters were on standby with
relief materials and medical teams.
"We are finished. We have lost everything. The storm destroyed our
tin-shed home and everything inside. Our family will have to start
from scratch now," Pratap Chandra Pradhan, a resident on the
outskirts of Bhubaneshwar, told NDTV.
Mahapatra said the exact extent of damage and loss of lives will be
clear by Saturday, when relief teams reach the state's remote areas.
"But so many lives have potentially been saved because of the timely
and large-scale evacuation. The damage by the storm could have been
far greater," he claimed.
In Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, with 15 million inhabitants,
the airport was shut from Friday afternoon until Saturday.
Coming during India's vast general elections, the storm led to the
cancellation or postponement of campaign rallies of top politicians
including Premier Narendra Modi.
"Have cancelled my rallies for the next 48 hours because of what
could be an impending disaster #CyclonicStormFANI We are monitoring
the situation 24x7 and doing all it takes. I appeal to all people to
cooperate. Be alert, take care and stay safe for the next two days,"
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
Fani is considered the most severe storm to have hit India in two
decades. More than 10,000 people were killed in 1999 when a cyclone
packing winds of up to 260 kilometres per hour struck Odisha.