The Navy has put ships on stand by and deployed medical and relief teams to respond to any contingencies once cyclonic storm Fani hits Coast.
“INS Sahyadri, Ranvir and Kadmatt with relief material and medical teams embarked have been deployed on the evening of May 01 and are maintaining south of the cyclonic storm to be the first responder and commence rescue operation as soon as the cyclone crosses coast,” Navy said in a statement on Thursday.
The extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani is currently about 150 km East South East of Visakhapatnam and about 300 km south-southwest of Puri in Odisha as on 5:30 pm on May 02, the Navy said adding it is moving slowly in a Northerly direction and expected to “cross Odisha Coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during forenoon on May 3rd with maximum sustained wind speed of 170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph."
Additional relief material, medical teams and diving teams have been shifted from Visakhapatnam to Odisha by road to beef up rescue and relief efforts. Navy also said that aircraft are on standby for immediate deployment to carry out aerial survey as soon as the cyclone crosses coast to assess the impact of the cyclone and aid in rescue operation and helicopters are also on standby to join rescue efforts and for air dropping of relief material when required.
Navy’s Eastern Naval Command based in Visakhapatnam is closely monitoring the movement of the cyclone and Officers-in-Charge of West Bengal and Odisha are in constant communication with respective state administrations to coordinate rescue and relief operations.
