8 killed as cyclone Fani batters Odisha

Cyclone ‘Fani’ barrelled through Odisha on Friday, unleashing copious rain and windstorm that gusted up to 175 kmph, killing at least eight people, blowing away thatched houses, and swamping towns and villages, officials said.

The extremely severe cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ or the ‘Hood of Snake’ made landfall around 8 am in Puri, with roaring winds flattening huts, enveloping the pilgrim town in sheets of rain, and submerging homes.

Though the ‘extremely severe’ cyclone unexpectedly weakened into ‘very severe’ cyclonic storm in a matter of few hours, it left a trail of devastation in large parts of coastal Odisha, with the seaside pilgrim town of Puri being the worst hit.

At least eight people have been reported dead so far, senior officials said, adding information was still awaited from many areas. While three people, including a teenage boy, were reported killed in Puri district, three perished in Bhubaneswar and nearby areas. Flying debris from a concrete structure



fatally struck a woman in Nayagarh. An elderly woman died of heart attack at a relief shelter in Kendrapara district, official sources said.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who reviewed the situation, said Puri district, particularly the holy town where the cyclone first hit the land mass, suffered huge damage. “Energy infrastructure has been completely destroyed. Restoration of electricity is a challenging task,” he said. 

Hundreds of engineers and technicians were working on a war-footing to restore power supply. Work is on to restore road communication, thrown into disarray with thousands of uprooted trees blocking the way in innumerable places, Patnaik said. The Chief Minister said since the cyclone is still passing through Odisha, it will take time to make an assessment of the damage.

The cyclonic system moved at around 30 kmph, Director of the Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar, H R Biswas said soon after Fani made the landfall.