Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: A massive exodus was under way in coastal Odisha on Thursday as hundreds of thousands of people left their home and hearth, on foot and by vehicles, to escape the fury of cyclone ‘Fani’ in probably the largest evacuation ahead of a natural disaster in the country.
Fani is the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and left a trail of destruction in vast swathes of the state, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre.
India Meteorological Department sources said it is also the first cyclonic storm of such severity to have formed in April in India’s oceanic neighbourhood in 43 years.
Lugging their valuables, people were seen boarding buses and tempos made available by the administration, or walking to safer places amid drizzle on a windy day, as the sea got increasingly rough.
Nearly 3.5 lakh people have already been evacuated to safety, official sources said.
“Evacuation is in progress on a war-footing. Around 30 per cent of the targeted people have so far been moved to safe places,” said a senior official.
Fani, according to sources, has gathered speed and is rolling menacingly towards Odisha coast clocking 16 km per hour.
Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard have already been put on high alert to meet any eventuality. Personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and fire service have been deployed in vulnerable areas to assist the administration. Leave of all doctors and health officials have been cancelled till May 15, state’s chief secretary AP Padhi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the preparedness to tackle the situation that might obtain once the cyclone makes the landfall.
Indian Railways said a large number of trains have been cancelled as a precutionary measure. The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has cancelled over 103 trains as a precautionary step, an ECoR official said in Bhubaneswar.
Flight operations from Bhubaneswar airport will remain suspended for 24 hours from Thursday midnight.
Over one lakh dry food packets have been kept ready for air dropping, Special Relief Commissioner BP Sethi said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appealed to the people not to panic as the government is fully prepared to deal with the situation in the aftermath of the cyclone. (PTI)
