Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Fani over the Bay of Bengal is expected to hit the Odisha coast between 8 am and 10 am on Friday.
The storm is likely to make a landfall in Puri town, said the Indian Metrological Department (IMD)
The landfall would start between 8 am to 10 am and continue up to 12 noon, said Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi .
The storm till late Thursday was about 320 km south-southwest off Puri and 170 km east-southeast off Vishakhapatnam and it was moving at a speed of 17 km per hour.
It is very likely to move north-northeast and cross Odisha between Gopalpur and Chandbali, around Puri during forenoon with maximum sustained wind speed of
170-180 kmph gusting to 200 kmph. It will then weaken gradually and enter into West Bengal as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with the wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 115 kmph.
It is very likely to move further north-northeastwards and emerge into Bangladesh on the evening of May 4 as a Cyclonic storm with wind speed of 60-70 kmph gusting to 80 kmph.
Though the wind speed may gust up to 205km/hour during landfall, the maximum wind speed in cities like Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur and Cuttack could be around 100-115 km/hr in the next 12 hours (means starting from around Thursday midnight ).
Post landfall and when Fani will be moving over the coastal districts of Jagatsinghpur and Baleswar, before entering West Bengal, the wind speed in parts of Cuttack and Jajpur districts will see equally squally winds reaching up to 100 km per hour.
The impact of the storm will remain for nearly 12 hours after landfall,
when it will be moving north coastal districts en route to West Bengal.
High level of sea water ingress into human habitations is feared along the coast of Gopalpur to Chandbali as tidal storm surge is predicted at 1.5 metre over the astronomical tide, which means
the storm surge prior, during and after the land fall along the Odisha coast will be around 6.5 feet.
Fearing high sea ingress, the State Government has set a target to evacuate over 7.5 lakh people from the coastal districts to safer places.
Till 7 pm on Thursday, more than 4.5 lakh people have been evacuated from vulnerable places, said SRC officials.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday evening reviewed the preparedness to combat the storm. Patnaik appealed to the people not to panic and remain indoors for safety on Friday.