The “extremely severe” cyclonic storm Fani that made a landfall in Odisha’s Puri on Friday morning and ravaged various parts of the state, has entered West Bengal as “very severe” cyclonic storm. In Odisha, at least eight persons died – three in Puri district alone – while in Bengal, uprooting of trees and heavy rainfall was reported.
Parts of Kolkata and its suburbs received moderate to heavy rainfall since Friday morning. Nearly 15,000 people spent the night in cyclone shelters along coastal East Midnapore district and another 20,000 people did the same in West Midnapore.
Though services in the Kolkata international airport began at 8 am today as scheduled, train services were disrupted at places as railway tracks were obstructed by fallen trees and snapping of electric overhead wires.
Senior officials of the Regional Meteorological Centre said that the severe cyclonic storm Fani entered Bengal at 12.30 am through Odisha’s Balasore. Its wind speed was 70-90 km per hour.
Fani will now move further north and north east along the Burdwan-Hoogly border and then move towards Bangladesh through Nadia. However, by the time it reaches Bangladesh, Fani would have weakened considerably, officials said.
Though rains might continue through Saturday morning, the weather will begin to improve by evening, officials stated. As precautionary measure, power supply in certain areas in the affected districts had been snapped from time to time since Friday evening.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned the states in the Northeast as Fani may enter the region through Bangladesh, albeit in a weak condition. Flights from Agartala in Tripura to Kolkata may be affected due to this.
