Cyclone Fani slams eastern coast of India with 150 mph winds

Cyclone Fani slammed into India’s eastern coast Friday, killing at least three people as winds of up to 150 mph – the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane – lashed beaches and uprooted trees after more than one million people were evacuated.

The storm struck near the city of Puri, in Odisha state, and was expected to weaken over the next six hours as it moves toward Kolkata, one of the country’s most populous cities, according to CNN.

About 1.2 million people were evacuated from low-lying areas and moved to about 4,000 shelters, according to India’s National Disaster Response Force.

The navy, air force, army and coast guard have been on high alert in what Odisha Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi called an unprecedented evacuation effort in the country.

In Bhubaneswar, a city in Odisha famous for an 11th-century Hindu temple, trees whipped back and forth violently and the national highway to Puri, a popular tourist beach city, was littered debris.

The National Disaster Response Force sent 54 rescue and relief teams of doctors, engineers and divers to flood-prone areas along the coast and as far as Andaman and Nicobar Islands about 840 miles east of mainland India in the Bay of Bengal.

On Mount Everest, some mountaineers and Sherpa guides were descending to lower camps as conditions deteriorated at higher elevations.

Hundreds of climbers and guides huddled at the base camp, according to Pemba Sherpa of the Xtreme Climbers Trek, who said weather and visibility was poor.

May is the best month to climb the 29,035-foot Everest when Nepal experiences a few windows of good weather to scale the peak.

“It is still the beginning of the month, so there is no reason for climbers to worry” that weather from the storm will prevent them from reaching the summit, Sherpa said.

Fani’s timing is unusual, according to data from the Meteorological Department.

Most extremely severe cyclones hit India’s east coast in the post-monsoon season. Over roughly half a century, 23, or almost 60 percent of the cyclones, to hit the country were observed between October and December.

Because Fani spent 10 days gathering strength over water, it delivered a massive blow when it made landfall.

With Post Wires

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