Cyclone Fani : Indian Naval warships out for rescue operations

NEW DELHI: The three Indian navy warships Sahyadri, Ranvir and Kadmatt are all set to carry out the relief and rescue operations. As Cyclone Fani has hit the coast of Odisha.

The extremely severe cyclone Fani is being tracked by the Indian Navy and is fully equipped with relief material and medical teams. The Indian Navy is also tracking Cyclone Fani via satellite.

The ships have sailed south of the cyclone to be capable of starting the rescue operations as the other naval vessels will be remaining on standby at Visakhapatnam. The team of Naval divers have also moved to Orissa from Visakhapatnam.

On Thursday, seven warships were deployed by the Indian Navy. Three of them followed the eye of the cyclone in the southward direction, while the other four set their course towards the coast of Tamil Nadu.

Cyclone Fani made its landfall in the district of Puri, Odisha morning which caused heavy rainfall along with high velocity winds in traveling at a speed of 175 km per hour in vast areas.

Director of Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, HR Biswas said, "The cyclone has entered the Odisha coast at Puri around 8 am and it will take around three hours for the entire landfall process to be completed."

Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) BP Sethi said that, the government is fully prepared to deal with any eventuality. As per reports, no casualties have been recorded so far in any part of the state.