Chennai: The extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani crossed the Odisha coast near Puri and caused extensive devastation. A large number of trees and electric poles were uprooted, creating road blocks in the city limits of Puri.
The roof top of Puri railway station was found blown off. Largescale inundation was observed in many places, particularly in the low-lying areas between Puri and Chilka lake.
A naval Dornier aircraft was deployed to carry out an aerial survey of Odisha to assess the impact of the Fani. The Dornier crew observed very strong winds of nearly 50 knots during the sortie. The footage of the aerial survey is being shared with the State administration officials to plan relief and rehabilitation activities.
QUICK REACTION
The Quick Reaction Team (QRT) from the premier naval training establishment, INS Chilka, located in Odisha, was immediately deployed to provide emergency assistance in cutting and clearing of trees which had fallen in the approaches as well as over the primary school in the nearby village of Gadadwar in Khurdha district.
The school was functioning as a shelter and was also the venue for community kitchen. The team also cleared many fallen trees on the way to the village.
In addition, a quick reaction medical team of the Navy was despatched to nearby villages namely Gadadwar , Amritpur, Kharibandh, and Athrawati. They conducted mobile medical camps at various villages around Chilka.
The emergency services at INHS Nivarini at Chilka were also simultaneously manned to tackle emergencies, and to provide basic first-aid and evacuation of casualties if any. There were no casualties reported in these villages.