The Extremely Severe Cyclone Fani is gradually coming closer to the coast and is all set to make landfall over Odisha coast. Cyclone Fani is expected to cross Odisha coast near Satpada and Balukhand area in Puri district around afternoon of May 3.
Fani is presently centered near Latitude 14.1°N and Longitude 83.9°E, about 640 Km south-southwest of Puri, Odisha and 395 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Thus, Odisha is now gearing up for heavy to extremely heavy rains during the coming days. These showers would be accompanied with damaging winds.
State and national authorities have already put Odisha on alert against inclement weather conditions, particularly in 12 districts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Gopalpur, Khurda, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Rayagada, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Paradip and Balasore. Also, authorities in Odisha have advised tourists to leave Puri by tomorrow evening and cancel non-essential travel to the districts likely to be affected on May 3 and May 4.
All three forces Army, Air Force and Navy on stand by for joint operations across to be affected states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. The Coast Guard have also deployed ships and helicopters for relief and rescue operations. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has moved 41 teams- 8 in Andhra Pradesh, 28 in Odisha and 5 in West Bengal. 13 teams are on standby in West Bengal and 10 in Andhra Pradesh. Evacuation process in Odisha to begin by May 2. 879 multipurpose cyclone shelters ready and can accommodate around one million people.
Let us have a look at the rainfall expected during and before the landfall.
May 1: Scattered rains are expected to commence and intensity would increase significantly over South Coastal Odisha by Wednesday night. As per the experts, today the wind speed along the coastal areas would be around 30-40 kmph gusting to 50 kmph.
May 2: Places in South Coastal Odisha like Gajapati, Ganjam, Khordha, Rayagada, Kandhamal and Koraput would start receiving heavy to very heavy rains. Eventually, the spread of rains would increase and cover parts of North Coastal Odisha. Most of the coastal stations such as Puri, Bhubaneswar, Kendrapara, Balasore and Bhadrak would start receiving heavy rains.
The wind speed over the Odisha coast is expected to increase to the tune of 100-120 kmph, gusting up to 140 kmph. Sea conditions are expected to be rough to very rough all along the coast of Odisha and we advise complete suspension of fishing activities.
May 3: With extremely severe cyclone Fani preparing to make landfall, rains would increase by manifolds. Coastal areas would see heavy to extremely heavy rains, wherein few places might see rains reaching up to 200 mm as well. Damaging winds would be at peak with speed of 175-185 Kmph, gusting up to 205 kmph at the time of crossing the coast. Sea tides would be high between 12 ft to 18 ft above the astronomical tide, leading to flooding. Sea conditions are expected to be rough to very rough all along the coast of Odisha and we advise complete suspension of fishing activities.
Interior areas such as Angul, Kandhamal, Kendujhar, Deogarh, Phulbani, Kalahandi, Malkangiri would too receive light to moderate rain with few heavy spells.
May 4: By this time, Fani would have moved further north towards West Bengal and weakened as well. Thus, the weather over Odisha would improve. We expect only light rains at few places but strong south-westerly winds in the order of 60-70 kmph gusting to 80-90 kmph would continue along the coast.
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