Cyclone Fani to hit Odisha tomorrow, Bhubaneswar Airport closes at midnight

With extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani likely to cross the coastal areas of Odisha on Friday, the South Eastern Railway has cancelled 43 trains scheduled to run between Howrah and Puri, and other destinations in south India over the next two days. According to a forecast by the MeT office, heavy-to-very heavy rainfall may occur in the coastal districts of Odisha and West Bengal on Friday.

Cyclone Fani, which has turned into an "extreme severe cyclonic" storm, is about 450 km from the Odisha coast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in an early morning tweet. 

It said that the cyclonic storm is moving northwards with a speed of 5 km per hour in past six hours and is likely to make landfall at Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali anytime after Friday afternoon, with wind speed of up to 200 km per hour.

In view of the impending landfall of Cyclone Fani, the weatherman has issued an 'Orange message' alert for Odisha, West Bengal and Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh coasts. A total of nineteen districts of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal are expected to get hit by the cyclone, with the Met Department issuing a special bulletin on Wednesday warning about possible destruction in the areas. 

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