Cyclone Fani latest: Two dead as ‘extremely severe’ tropical storm strikes India

Fani brings gusts of up to 195kph as it hits land just south of Puri in Odisha state. Officials say up to a million people are at risk from the storm

Two people have died after the “extremely severe cyclonic storm” Fani, one of the most powerful storms to hit India in years, made landfall in Odisha state.

Officials said one man died of a heart attack in a shelter and another was struck by a falling tree, while there are reports of villages inundated with water in several areas and heavy rain across the eastern state.

The storm, which is expected to bring widespread disruption across India and neighbouring Bangladesh, was still sustaining wind gusts of up to 195kph (121mph) as the eye moved over the coast at 8.30am local time on Friday, officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The IMD said the eye of the storm was completely over land by 10am. Fani is expected to bring damage to property and crops, and extensive impacts to power supplies, and road and rail networks.

Close to 60km (37 miles) inland, high winds uprooted trees and electricity poles in the state capital Bhubaneshwar, a Reuters witness reported.

Odisha’s state government claimed to have evacuated more than a million people living along India’s east coast in the 24 hours before the storm’s arrival, according to a tweet by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Odisha has deployed hundreds of disaster management personnel, closed schools and colleges and asked doctors and other health officials not to go on leave until 15 May. The state expects 15 districts to be badly affected by the storm.

The airport at Bhubaneshwar will be shut on Friday. Neighbouring West Bengal state also decided to close an airport at Kolkata, its capital.

Naval warships and helicopters have also been moved to the state in anticipation of rescue operations. Several teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also been sent.

India is currently in the midst of a mammoth six-week general election, which severely limits the operations of local and national governments. But the Election Commission has relaxed the rules about decision-making processes so that authorities can respond more rapidly to carry out relief work.

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has asked his officials to stay in touch with the states at risk from Cyclone Fani.

India’s cyclone season can last from April to December, when severe storms batter coastal cities and cause widespread deaths, and damage to crops and property, in both India and neighbouring Bangladesh.

Technological advancements have helped meteorologists to predict weather patterns well in advance, giving authorities more time to prepare.

A super-cyclone battered the coast of Odisha for 30 hours in 1999, killing almost 10,000 people. In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi killed more than 200 people and in October last year another cyclone sparked widespread evacuations.

A mass evacuation of nearly a million people likely saved thousands of lives in 2013.

Additional reporting by Reuters