Cyclone Fani made landfall in Odisha on Friday morning. The downpour started at midnight and by the morning of 3 May, the cyclone had hit Puri.
Balasore was on alert as well, since the cyclone would hit this area. We were all prepared for it. In fact on Thursday, we went to the market and stored vegetables, fruits, milk and water. We live in a joint family of 16 members, so we didn’t want to take any chance – all essential stuff was bought and hoarded.
In the night, the electricity supply was interrupted. We had already charged our mobile phones and power banks, but the mobile network kept dropping time and again. The howling gusts of wind was pretty strong. Even though the doors and windows were closed, we could feel the wind speed, as the gusts kept hitting the windows and doors. Naturally, the sound of the winds scared the kids a lot.
I remember, my first such cyclone experience was with Cyclone Phailin in 2013. So for Balasore city cyclone Fani wasn’t as severe as Phailin. Phailin resulted in extreme flooding. We all had distributed relief materials in the low lying areas around town that were submerged.
Cyclone Fani was fast, strong winds, so the damage has been in terms of trees getting uprooted, power-cut, damaged houses, shattered windows and glass panes, etc. Even the trees in my garden were uprooted.
On Saturday morning, the electricity was restored. But I think, they are still working on it because it keeps coming and going. In some areas, there is still no electricity, my maid was complaining about it. In fact, I was told that many offices have been reopened in parts of Bhubaneswar. Right now, the weather is good, with no rains and with sun out. I hope it remains like this today.
I read that the cyclone may have weakened as per IMD reports. I only pray for the well-being of every one in the path of cyclone.
(The author is the Director of Kamtech Associates Ltd. and co-founder of K-Box. She is a motivational speaker who has been spearheading the IT literacy revolution in many underdeveloped towns of India.
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