Warnings of ‘total destruction’ as Cyclone Fani hits India

Indian and Bangladeshi authorities raced to complete the removal of more than one million people out of the path of an extreme cyclone that made landfall in eastern India on Friday.

“Landfall started at 0800 hrs IST (0230 GMT). Part of eye lies over land at 0830. Entire process of eye entering into land will be completed in next 2 hrs,” India’s Meteorological Department tweeted.

Major airports were closed in India’s eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal and the railway network virtually closed down before the arrival of “extremely severe” Cyclone Fani – expected to be the biggest storm to hit the region in more than two decades – on Friday morning.

More than one million people in the two states have been ordered to leave their homes and the Bangladesh government separately issued evacuation orders for 19 coastal districts and put the army on standby.

“We are not able to know what’s happening outside. There’s darkness everywhere,” Jyotirmayee Panda, a resident of Puri in Odisha, told Al Jazeera.

“We can only hear the sound caused by roofs being blown away and poles and trees hitting the ground. That is quite scary. The wind is picking up speed and water is now entering our homes. We are unable to cook and just god will save us.” 

All flights and trains are cancelled in Odisha. Many passengers are waiting at Bhubaneswar airport and railway station.

“We don’t know how much time we have to wait here. We were not prepared for this kind of situation. We need food and a safe shelter,” said Deepak Mohanty, a passenger at Bhubaneswar railway station.

The Indian meteorological department is predicting Fani will sweep up into West Bengal and reach Bangladesh on Saturday, and gradually weaken.

It said a storm surge of about 1.5 metres could hit Odisha and flood low-lying areas where in 1999, 10,000 people were killed by a cyclone. 

Tropical system threatens flooding across northwestern parts of the Bay of Bengal. [AFP]

Forecasters have warned of the “total destruction” of thatched houses, the uprooting of power and communication poles, the “flooding of escape routes” and damage to crops in some areas.

A state relief department official told AFP that 780,000 people were moved to safer ground by Thursday.

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

Jajati Karan, a journalist based in Odisha, told Al Jazeera that the cyclone had already caused major destruction in the coastal areas.

“Odisha is a very cyclone-prone area. But no casualties have been reported so far because of the preparations carried out by the government,” said Karan.

“Odisha has been prepared for these cyclones and they have built hundreds of shelters throughout the coastal areas.”

Bishnupada Sethi, special relief commissioner for Odisha, which has a population of 45 million in all, told AFP news agency that one million people would have to be moved by the time the storm hit.

Hundreds of thousands more in West Bengal have also been given evacuation orders. Special teams went through holiday villages urging tourists to move to safety.

“We have heard that the cyclone has turned towards Bengal and it will also hit Kolkata. But people should not panic unnecessarily. All precautionary steps are being taken to prevent any loss of life,” Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim told reporters.

UPDATE: Cyclone #Fani is making landfall right now near Puri, India as a Category 4 — one of the strongest landfalling cyclones in the country’s recorded history. pic.twitter.com/TDfalErBJR

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) May 3, 2019

It was predicted to pack sustained wind speeds of 180-190km/h and gusts up to 200km/h, equivalent in strength to a Category 3 to 4 hurricane.

More than 200 train services have been cancelled along coastal routes, according to Indian Railways. Three special trains were running however from Puri to evacuate pilgrims and tourists.

Flights have been cancelled in and out of Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar and Kolkata in West Bengal until at least Saturday.

Heavy rain was already falling when hotels, schools and government offices started closing. At one Puri hotel visited by AFP all 175 rooms were ordered emptied, causing a wedding party to be cut short.

Measures were also being taken to protect the eight-and-a-half-century-old Jagannath temple in the city.

Dozens of officials made announcements on megaphones across the coastal belt telling residents to flee their homes. State authorities also sent out mass SMS text messages to residents.

Ports have been closed but the Indian Navy has sent six warships to the region while India’s biggest oil and gas producer ONGC transported almost 500 workers from offshore rigs. 

Additional reporting by Subrat Kumar Pati in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.

Stranded passengers rest inside a railway station after trains between Kolkata and Odisha were cancelled ahead of Cyclone Fani. [Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters]