Bhubaneswar,29 April, 2019: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a high-level meeting at the State Secretariat here on Monday evening to take stock of the preparedness for the possible cyclonic storm ‘Fani’.
Sources said, The Chief Minister stressed that all efforts should be made to ensure ‘zero casualty’ as the state braces for the possible cyclonic storm Fani, which is likely to recurve towards Odisha coast on May 1.
The Chief Minister directed top officials to remain on high alert and fully prepared to tackle the cyclonic storm, sources added.
According to the latest IMD bulletin, the cyclonic storm Fani over southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood moved north-northwestwards with a speed of about 18 km per hour in last six hours and lay centred at 2.30 PM today near latitude 9.7°N and longitude 86.8°E over southeast Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood about 810 km east-southeast of Chennai,Tamil Nadu.
The bulletin added, the cyclonic storm is very likely to intensify into a Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 06 hours and into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm during subsequent 24 hours. It is very likely to move northwestwards till May 1 and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards towards Odisha coast.
Meanwhile, the district administrations of Puri, Ganjam and Kendrapara have cancelled the leave applications of all government employees in view of cyclonic storm Fani.
Prasanta Patnaik