Cyclonic Fani, which was located 880 km south east of Chennai as of Monday morning, is expected to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday, 30 April. The storm will continue to move north west and change its path to North East from 1st May.
Cyclone Gaja that hit Tamil Nadu in November last year, left 65 people dead, more than 1.34 lakh electricity poles damaged and 70,000 coconut farmers directly affected in Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam.
Vardah cyclone that crossed Chennai on 12 December 2016 killed 24 people in the state, and caused ₹22,573 crore worth of damage and uprooted close to 50,000 trees in a matter of minutes.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), landfall over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is ruled out. However, like it happens with cyclonic storms in this part of the peninsula most of the times, possibility of landfall in Odisha is under continuous watch.
PM Modi himself is closely monitoring the situation and has directed Cabinet Secretary to convene the Meeting of National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to take stock of the situation.
NDRF and Indian Coast Guard have been put on high alert and placed at the disposal of State Government Authorities.
Regular warnings have been issued since 25 April to fisherfolk not to venture into the sea and asking those at sea to return to coast. IMD has been issuing three hourly bulletins with latest forecast to all the concerned States.
Fani is expected to just kiss Odisha’s coast and spark heavy rains from 2 May. Here’s hoping and praying that the IMD’s forecasts hold. Here’s hoping and praying that there’s no repeat of the 2013 cyclone Phailin or the 1999 super cyclone, both of which proved devastating for Odisha.
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