Fani will make landfall today morning around 9.30 am in Odisha’s Puri

The extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani will make landfall today morning around 9.30 am in Odisha’s Puri, much before the earlier forecast of 3 pm. With a few hours left for cyclone Fani to hit the coast, a massive exodus got under way in coastal Odisha as hundreds of thousands of people left their home, on foot and by vehicles, in probably the largest evacuation ahead of a natural disaster in the country. The Odisha government has moved 11 lakh people to safety and advised the public to remain indoor on Friday.

Fani is being regarded as 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. Fani, according to sources, has gathered speed and is rolling dangerously towards the coast clocking 17 km per hour. After crossing Odisha, cyclone Fani is likely to move towards West Bengal before tapering off. It is, however, still likely to impact parts of the northeast, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. There is forecast of massive tides that could surge up to 1.5 metres during the landfall, officials said. Fishermen have been advised against venturing into the sea.