Puri, May 3: Cyclone Fani, an extremely severe cyclonic storm, made a landfall in Odisha’s Puri on  Friday. The cyclone, which is currently a powerful tropical cyclone has raised threats in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and several other southern states. Cyclone ‘Fani’ is pronounced as ‘Foni’. The name was suggested by Bangladesh. The Bengali word 'Foni' refers to ‘Snake’ or ‘hood of snake’. The cyclone, the second named storm and the first severe cyclonic storm of the 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, originated from a tropical depression that formed near west of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean on April 26. The wind speed of normal cyclones go up to 90 km per hour, but Fani has the potential to touch a 195 kmph speed. Catch LIVE Updates of Cyclone Fani in India.

Over a million people have been evacuated to safer places as India’s worst cyclone in more than five years made a landfall in Odisha on Friday morning, raising fears of widespread devastation. In the wake of the severe cyclonic storm, Odisha along with West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh joined hands with the central government to prepare rescue and relief steps ahead of Cyclone Fani’s expected landfall in Odisha’s Puri district. Track the Cyclone Live Here

How Are Cyclones Named

Several nations of the world including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan and Thailand send names of tropical cyclones developing in the North Indian Ocean to the regional committee. At present, each country suggests eight names for cyclones that are likely to occur in future. The name ‘Fani’ was decided from a list containing 64 names.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has a well-defined process to select the name of each cyclone. The process of naming the cyclones began after the authorities found it difficult to use technical names to send warning signals to people. It must be noted that Bangladesh also named Cyclone Ockhi that caused severe damages in Kerala. The Cyclone Titli, that hit Andhra and some parts of Odisha last year was named by Pakistan.

How was Cyclone Fani Located

On April 26, the IMD began tracking a depression located west of Sumatra, classifying it as BOB 02. Later that day, the JTWC issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the system. Later, the storm moved northward and was upgraded to a deep depression on April 27. At the same time, the JTWC began warning on the system, designating it 01B. Six hours later, the IMD upgraded the system to a cyclonic storm and gave it the name Fani.

Cyclone Fani Threat

In the wake of the cyclonic storm, over 150 trains are either cancelled or re-routed on 3 May and 4 due to the cyclone, dozens of flights have been cancelled. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) monitored a tropical disturbance that formed in the North Indian Ocean, and designated it with the identifier 01B.

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Fani was named by Bangladesh, which when translated means "the hood of a snake". In Odisha, the worst super cyclone had hit the state in 1999, killing more than 15,000 people. Another severe cyclone had developed was in 2008- Cyclone Nargis, which had left Myanmar devastated.

The cyclonic storm Fani is likely to impact Odisha's coastal districts Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore. In West Bengal, it will affect districts of East and West Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogly, Jhargram besides the Kolkata city.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 03, 2019 09:44 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).