Cyclone Fani hits Puri with wind speeds of 240-245 kmph; 2 dead in Odisha
Cyclone Fani hits coast, Trees Uprooted, heavy rainfall in parts of Odisha
India's Meteorological Department(IMD) in Hyderabad tracking cyclone Fani said winds have been blowing at a maximum speed of 240-245 km per hour with very heavy rains in Puri and is now likely moving towards West Bengal coast.
Two people were killed due to the cyclone, an official said.
One man died of a heart attack in one of several thousand shelters that have been set up, AFP reported.
"Another person went out in the storm despite our warnings and died because a tree fell on him," Odisha special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said.
Indian Navy's P-8I and Dornier have been scheduled to be launched in the afternoon for undertaking aerial survey to assess the extent of impact and devastation post-Fani.
Heavy rainfall and strong winds hit Ganjam as cyclone Fani hit the Puri coast with wind speed of above 175km/per hour.
"In the next three hours, Cyclone Fani is expected to weaken with a wind speed of 150-160 km per hour, subsequently it will weaken and move north-northeastwards. By evening, it may weaken into severe cyclonic storm over extreme northern part of Odisha," Mrityunjay Mohapatra, IMD official in Delhi said.
Meanwhile, Airports Authority of India said no flight to and from Kolkata airport will be allowed to fly from 3pm today till 8am on Saturday. In a series of tweets, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said Friday that all airlines must immediately respond to the concerns of passengers affected by Cyclone Fani.
"We are ready to offer help needed for the stranded due to cyclonic storm Fani. The control room, helplines are manned all times to assist affected passengers. All Airlines must immediately respond to the concerns of passengers," he tweeted.
In West Bengal, NDRF team have been deployed at Digha. The disaster relief team have evacuated 132 people, including 52 children, from Dattapur and Tajpur.