The extremely severe Cyclone Fani will weaken into a severe cyclonic storm by the time it hits West Bengal, the India Meteorological Department in Kolkata said on Friday. Cyclone Fani, one of the biggest storms to come off the Indian Ocean in recent years, made landfall in Odisha’s Puri earlier on Friday and two people were reported to have been killed as it barrelled into the state. “The storm has already lost some severity and has turned into a very severe cyclonic storm. By the time it enters Bengal and hits Kolkata it will become a severe cyclonic storm,” IMD Kolkata’s deputy director Sanjib Bandyopadhyay said. Watch | Furious Cyclone Fani strikes Odisha, will weaken and move to Bangladesh Follow LIVE updates here. The wind speed will be between 90-110/115 km per hour when it enters West Bengal towards Friday evening, Bandyopadhyay said. In the afternoon, the storm lay 370km southwest of Kolkata. “It is expected to enter Bengal at a speed of 90-115km per hour,” said Bandyopadhyay. Also Read | Cyclone Fani plays havoc with campaign schedules; Mamata Banerjee, PM Modi, Amit Shah cancel rallies In Kolkata, the maximum impact will be felt between “late midnight and early morning of Saturday”, said the met office head in Kolkata. Bandyopadhyay also said that on May 4, when Cyclone Fani moves into Bangladesh, it will be a cyclonic storm.<doc-sep>The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has said that no flight will depart or arrive at Kolkata airport between 9.30 pm tomorrow till 6 pm on May 4 due to cyclone Fani. The aviation body also said that all flights to and fro Bhubaneswar airport on May 3 stand cancelled. The 'extremely severe' cyclonic storm is expected to hit the Odisha coast on Friday. Other states on the eastern coast, such as West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, are also expected to be affected by the cyclone. In an advisory, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the aforementioned flights are being "cancelled in advance in order to avoid passenger inconvenience and safety of operations". "Resumption of flights will be with positive clearance from respective air traffic control," the aviation watchdog said in the advisory. Fani is the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and left a trail of destruction in vast swathes of Odisha, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JWTC). India Meteorological Department (IMD) sources said it is also the first cyclonic storm of such severity to have formed in April in India's oceanic neighbourhood in 43 years. PTI For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine<doc-sep>As Cyclone Fani moves closer to the east coast, the West Bengal government on Thursday sounded alert in several coastal districts and the state capital Kolkata, asking the public to leave seaside destinations and directing fishermen to not venture into the sea Kolkata: As Cyclone Fani moves closer to the east coast, the West Bengal government on Thursday sounded alert in several coastal districts and the state capital Kolkata, asking the public to leave seaside destinations and directing fishermen to not venture into the sea. Schools have been ordered closed and people asked to move to safer places as the extremely severe cyclonic storm makes the landfall in Puri in Odisha Friday morning. A senior official said alert was sounded in West Midnapore, North 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly districts, Jhargram and the Sundarbans, besides Kolkata. The government has been making public announcements in seaside destinations of Digha, Shankarpur, Tajpur and Mandarmani in East Midnapore and Bakkhali in South 24 Parganas for people to move to safer areas, he said. "Cyclone Fani's wind speed is expected to reach 120 kmph and may cause widespread damage. People living in mud houses have been evacuated. Hotels on beaches have been asked to cancel bookings and tourists are being asked to return," a disaster management department official said. Disaster response force personnel have been deployed in areas likely to be impacted by the cyclone. Fishermen have been asked not to venture into the sea and plying of boats and ferry services have been suspended on May 3 and May 4 in all the districts where precautions are being taken, he said. Authorities in Kolkata said they were removing hoardings vulnerable to the Fani's impact. "A 24x7 control room has been set up to monitor the situation," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said. She said she will be staying at Kharagpur in West Midnapore district for the next two days to oversee the rescue operation. At the state secretariat, the official said a committee has been formed under Chief Secretary Malay Kumar De to monitor the impact of the cyclone. De held a meeting with senior officials of disaster management department, security officials, representatives of the Army, Navy and the state police to discuss the measures to deal with with the situation after Fani's crosses the region. "Around 10,000 tarpaulin sheets have been distributed among the inhabitants and announcements has been started in all the villages of the districts likely to be affected for the awareness of the people," state Disaster Management Minister Javed Khan told PTI. People have been advised to stock up food items, necessary medicines and drinking water, an official said. "We have readied all form of relief materials, water pouches, medicines. Adequate allotment of relief materials has been made to all districts. Six National Disaster Response Force teams have been deployed at Digha in East Midnapore, Kakdwip and Dhamakhali in South 24 Parganas, Basirhat in North 24 Parganas, Kharagpur in West Midnapore and Sankrail in Howrah," the official said. Emergency helpline 1070 has been set up, he said. Special night patrolling at vulnerable locations is under way. Four State Disaster Response Force teams have been moved to Basanti in South 24 Parganas district, Contai and Haldia in East Midnapore and Arambagh in Hooghly district, he said adding the PWD, fisheries, irrigation, power and PHE departments have opened control rooms to provide emergency support in there. South Eastern Railway has cancelled at least six trains between Kolkata and Puri and is running three special trains to move out passengers from the temple town to safer places, an SER official said. Follow LIVE updates on Cyclone Fani here Buses were being arranged for passengers returning from Puri to head to their respective destinations, he said. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has directed its engineers to remain on high alert. City Mayor Firhad Hakim said pumping stations have been asked to drain out water and leave of KMC employees have been cancelled. "We have asked people staying in dilapidated buildings to move out," Hakim said. Kolkata Port Trust spokesperson Sanjay Kumar Mukherjee said shipping will be suspended from Thursday night till the cyclone tapers off. All ships in the Kolkata Dock System and Haldia Dock Complex have been specifically advised to take precautionary measures, he said. "Two control stations have been opened with required facilities, one at Kolkata and other at Haldia and will be maintained around the clock," KoPT officials said, adding they would be coordinating with DG shipping, Coast Guard and state disaster centre. Director General of Civial Aviation said operations at the Kolkata airport will remain suspended on Friday and Saturday. Kaushik Bhattacharya, the director of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, said leave of all the AAI employees have been cancelled from Friday.<doc-sep>The Airports Authority of India (AAI) owns and manages more than 100 airports across India. No flights will depart or arrive at Kolkata airport from 3 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday in view of the cyclonic storm ''Fani'', which slammed into the Odisha coast in the morning, aviation regulator DGCA said. On Thursday, the regulator said there would be no flights to and from Kolkata airport between 9.30 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday. A senior government official told PTI that the timings regarding the shutdown of flight operations at Kolkata airport have been revised after observing the progress of Cyclone Fani. On Friday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement, "Revised timings provided by AAI for Kolkata airport; From 1500 IST on 3.5.2019 till 0800 IST on 4.5.2019." The Airports Authority of India (AAI) owns and manages more than 100 airports across India. In a series of tweets, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said Friday that all airlines must immediately respond to the concerns of passengers affected by Cyclone Fani. "We are ready to offer help needed for the stranded due to cyclonic storm Fani. Control room, helplines are manned all times to assist affected passengers. All Airlines must immediately respond to the concerns of passengers," he tweeted. Suresh Parbhu also said his ministry will work with the governments of the affected states to assist them in rescue and relief operations<doc-sep>
Mayor of Kolkata on Thursday directed advertisers to take down all hoardings in the city to prevent them from injuring people if they are dislodged by the force of strong winds as Cyclone Fani hurtled towards neighbouring Odisha’s Puri. The decision was taken during a meeting of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the city, about 500km away from Odisha’s coastal temple town of Puri, where the cyclone is supposed to make landfall on Friday. “KMC will also evacuate the residents of the dilapidated buildings in the city and take them to nearby schools to prevent any loss of life,” Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim said. Hakim also said KMC will issue residential certificates in order to allay fears among some residents of such dilapidated buildings that real estate promoters may grab their houses if they vacate them. KMC along with the departments of disaster management and irrigation have already cancelled the leaves of employees till further orders. Follow updates here “The administration in seven to eight districts, especially in the coastal areas, is on high alert. The chief secretary held a meeting with all the relevant departments. There will be round the clock monitoring,” said chief minister Mamata Banerjee at an election rally in Rajarhat. Hotel owners in tourist spots along West Bengal’s coastline such as Digha, Mandarmani, Tajpur and Shankarpur fear a loss of business even if their resorts escape the brunt of the storm’s fury. Digha, Bengal’s most popular beach resort, is about 342 kilometres east of Puri and close to the Odisha border. “There are about 650 hotels in the area that attracts average footfalls of about 0.2 million people every day. Even if you take a bare minimum of them spending Rs 600 per head per day, the direct loss of business is at least Rs 12 crore a day,” said Bipradas Chakrabarti, secretary of the Digha Shankarpur Hoteliers Association. President of the association Girish Raut said many tourists have cancelled bookings following an alert about Cyclone Fani. Raut fears that even the thousands of tourists who take the four to five-hour drive to Digha and the other popular coastal town without prior reservations will desist from doing so over the next several days. “We have arranged six rescue centres. We are urging tourists to leave, and in any case, not to venture near the sea till the weather becomes normal,” said Partha Ghosh, district magistrate in East Midnapore.