Tuesday 14 / January / 2025
Mumbai: Cyclone Fani has intensified and is heading towards the Indian state of Odisha, according to the country's meteorological department.
They said in a statement, "Severe Cyclone ‘FANI’ intensified into Very Severe Cyclone at 0530 IST of 30th April. To intensify further and move towards Odisha coast."
Previously, the India Meteorological Department had warned that the storm would move northwestwards until the evening of 1 May before heading north-northeast towards the coast of Odisha.
India's Press Information Bureau issued an advisory related to the storm.
The bureau stated that the storm was "about 670 km east-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 690 km east-southeast of Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and 760 km southeast of Machilipatnam (Andhra Pradesh). It is very likely to intensify further into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 36 hours."
They warned of potentially heavy rainfall as well as tough wind and sea conditions.
Winds they said are likely to increase gradually to 120-130 kilometres per hour gusting at 150 km over the south east.
Fishermen were warned not to venture into parts of the deep sea near the southeast Bay of Bengal, the adjoining Equatorial Indian Ocean, Southwest Bay of Bengal and off the coast of Sri Lanka on 30 April; southwest and west central bay of Bengal, the coasts of Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh until 1 May; west central Bay of Bengal; and the coast of north Andhra Pradesh from 1-3 May; and the west central Bay of Bengal as well as the coasts of Odisha and West Bengal from 2 May onwards.
"Those who are out in deep sea (in the) above areas are advised to return to the coasts," the advisory concluded.
