Odisha: One of the biggest cyclones - cyclone Fani- hit the coastal areas of the country with torrential rain and winds gusting up to 200km an hour, but there were no early reports of casualties with over a million people evacuated before it made landfall in Odisha's Puri on Friday morning. Close to 60km inland, high winds uprooted trees and electricity poles in the state capital, Bhubaneshwar.
Fani is being regarded as the most severe cyclonic storm to hit the state in a long time. But, disaster preparedness by the state government helped reduce the loss of life to a great extent.
Also read: Massive evacuation operation underway as Odisha comes standstill
India's eastern coast has a long history of devastating cyclones, some of them moderate, some ferocious over more than the past two decades:
November 1977: The Diviseema severe cyclonic storm was the most devastating to hit Andhra Pradesh in the past 44 years.
- Districts affected: Eight coastal districts
- Death toll: 10,000
- Houses damaged: 1,000,000
- Crop loss: Crop was damaged over 1.35 million hectares of land
- Estimated monetary loss: Rs 172 crore.
July 1989: A cyclone was followed by heavy rains and floods in Andhra Pradesh.
- Districts affected: 22
- Death toll: 232
- Crop loss: 600,000 ha
- Estimated monetary loss: Rs 913.5 crore.
May 1990: Severe cyclonic storm with a core of hurricane winds hit Andhra Pradesh.
- Districts affected: 14
- Death toll: 817
- Houses damaged: 1.4 million
- Crop loss: more than 500,000 ha
- Estimated monetary loss: Rs 2,137.27 crore
- It was followed by heavy rainfall in August in which 50 people died and the loss was assessed at Rs 179 crore.
November 1996: Severe cyclonic storm hit Andhra Pradesh.
- Districts affected: Four
- Death toll: 1,077
- Houses damaged: 600,000
- Crop loss: 500,000 ha
- Estimated monetary loss: 6,129.25 crore
November 1999: The “Great Orissa Cyclone of 1999” made its landfall on October 19, 1999 in Odisha with 155 mph winds and a storm surge of 26 feet (8 meters). The storm was classified as a ‘Super Cyclonic Storm’ in the nomenclature of tropical storms that affect the North Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea.
- Death toll: over 10,000
November 2008: Cyclone Nisha hit Tamil Nadu with wind speed of 75 km made its landfall on November 27.
- Death toll: 204
November-December 2017: The severe cyclonic storm Ockhi hit the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Lakshadweep on November 30 and continued till December 2.
- Death toll: 365
