The severe cyclonic storm 'Fani' (pronounced as Foni) in the Bay of Bengal is expected to take a shape of an 'extremely severe cyclone' over the next two days, and is most likely to hit the Odisha coastline by the early morning of 4 May, according to the latest forecast by the India Metreological Department (IMD).
On Monday night, the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said the storm currently lays about 620 km northeast of the Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, 770 km southeast of Chennai. Cyclone Fani was progressing at the speed of about 18 km per hour, that is expected to increase in the next couple of days.
“The information as of now tells us that the cyclone would make a landfall on the Odisha coastline sometime early in the morning of 4 May or late in the evening of 3 May. There is still some uncertainty about the exact place in Odisha where it would come on to the land. According to its current trajectory, it could be somewhere near Puri. But we can know this better only by tomorrow,” Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, the head of services at IMD, told The Indian Express.
Cyclone Fani has been witnessed moving in the north-west direction towards the coastline of northern Tamil nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh till 1 May, after which it is expected to swerve in the north-east direction and head towards the Odisha coast.
NCMC Assures Help To The State Governments
The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), the country's top body to deal with emergency situation on Monday took cognizance of the situation arising out of cyclone 'Fani' and assured the concerned state governments of all assistance from the central government to face the storm.
The NDRF and the Indian Coast Guard are on high alert and the fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea as cyclonic storm is expected to intensify into a 'very severe storm' by Tuesday, said the Home Ministry.
NCMC Holds A Meeting, PM Narendra Modi Monitoring The Situation
The NCMC met here under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha and took stock of the situation. Chief secretaries, principal secretaries of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal attended the meeting through video conference.
Senior officers from the central ministries and agencies concerned also attended the meeting.
The NDRF and the Indian Coast Guard are coordinating with the state governments. The home ministry has assured the state governments to release in advance the first instalment of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), as per their request, a Home Ministry statement said.
During the meeting, officers of all the state governments concerned confirmed their full preparedness to deal with any emerging situation arising out of the cyclonic storm.
Further, the state government highlighted that there is a seasonal ban on fishing in sea up to 14 June due to breeding season.
The NCMC meeting followed directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is closely monitoring the situation. The NCMC will meet again Tuesday to take stock of the situation.
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