Cyclone Fani: 1 million people evacuated in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: About a million people have been evacuated in the last 24 hours from vulnerable districts to safer places in Odisha in view of extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani, which is likely to make landfall in Puri on Friday forenoon.

The state government has evacuated highest 3 lakh people from Ganjam district while 1.3 lakh people have been evacuated from Puri district.

About 5000 kitchens started operating to serve people in the shelters.

IMD said Cyclone Fani, after making landfall in Puri, will cross the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali Friday afternoon with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180kmph and gusting to 200kmph.

Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi said Odisha has sought 20 more units of NDRF teams for relief and rescue operations in the affected districts.

28 NDRF teams, 20 state disaster response teams have already deployed in the coastal districts.