780,000 Evacuated in India Ahead of Major Cyclone 2 May 2019

780,000 evacuated in India ahead of major cyclone 2 May 2019

On Thursday the storm, which reports said was the biggest to hit eastern India in nearly two decades, was brewing in the Bay of Bengal some 450 kilometres offshore and moving westwards.

The cyclone was expected to pack sustained wind speeds of 180-190 kmh, bringing gusts of up to 200 kmh, and is equivalent in strength to a Category 3 to 4 hurricane.

It will be the fourth such storm to hit the country's east coast in three decades.

India's weather office has warned that the high speed winds can uproot trees, flatten crops, The Indian weather service said Extremely Severe damage homes, power and communication Cyclonic Storm Fani is gathering near the Hindu holy infrastructure along with flooding in low lying areas. town of Puri with gusts of up to 200 kmh

Nearly 800,000 people in India's eastern coastal districts have been evacuated ahead of the expected arrival of a major cyclone packing winds of up to 200 kilometres (125 miles) per hour, officials said Thursday.

The Indian weather service said Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani is expected to make landfall on Friday afternoon near the Hindu holy town of Puri.

A state relief department official told AFP that 780,000 people were moved to safer places overnight from at least 13 districts of Odisha state that will bear the brunt of the powerful cyclone.

"More people are being moved to safer places," an official from the department told AFP.

Some 1,000 shelters in schools and government buildings have been set up to accommodate more than a million people.

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Map showing the forecast path of Cyclone Fani as it heads towards eastern India on Thursday.

The neighbouring coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also been put on high alert.

Storms regularly hit eastern and southeastern India between April and December. In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead and more than 600 missing in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states.

Odisha had to evacuate some 300,000 people last October when its coastal districts were battered by cyclone Titli, with winds up to 150 kmh (95 miles) per hour and heavy rains.

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APA citation: 780,000 evacuated in India ahead of major cyclone (2019, May 2) retrieved 24 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2019-05-evacuated-india-major-cyclone.html

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