Kolkata airport shuts down operations as cyclone Fani approaches

Friday, May 3, 2019

KOLKATA: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to close down the Kolkata Airport for several hours till Saturday in view of the severe cyclonic storm Fani, which hit the Odisha coast on Friday and is moving towards West Bengal.

The Indian aviation regulator said there will be no flights to and from the Kolkata airport from 3 PM (Friday) to 8 AM (Saturday).

A senior government official said the timings regarding the shutdown of the Kolkata Airport have been revised after observing the progress of Cyclone Fani.

However, the lack of information regarding the shutdown of flights has led to a major confusion among the passengers who are stranded at the Kolkata airport.

Meanwhile, in a series of tweets, Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said that all airlines should promptly respond to the passengers affected by Cyclone Fani.

The eye of the cyclone which was even an hour back party over the Bay of Bengal has completely moved inland. Its eye diameter was put at 28 km at around 9 AM. Half of Fani`s eye was in the sea then

The cyclone started crossing into the Odisha coast close to Puri between 8 AM and 10 AM on Friday. The process of landfall continued till 1 PM.

The cyclone has completely thrown normal life out of gear with heavy to very heavy rains lashing the coastal districts since Thursday night.

The road network in several districts suffered extensive damage. The power distribution network has also been severely affected. Asbestos sheets of temporary housing facilities have been ripped off.

About a million people were evacuated to safer places in Odisha due to the cyclonic storm.
The already rough sea in Puri is turbulent. Evacuation has been carried out till 5 km of the beach area. Even the calm sea in Chandipur is violent, officials said. Indian Navy warships – Sahyadri, Ranvir and Kadmatt – are on stand-by with relief materials and medical teams. Other naval vessels are also on standby at Vishakhapattanam. Naval divers teams have moved to Odisha from Vishakhapattanam.

The cities of Puri, Paradip, Bhubaneswar, Gopalpur have been experiencing rains since Thursday. The highest number of people – 3 lakh – were evacuated from Ganjam district while 1.3 lakh others from Puri district, said an official from the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) office. About 10,000 villages and 52 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) were likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm.

Flights were suspended in Bhubaneswar`s Biju Patnaik Airport from Friday midnight.

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