The roof of a building at AIIMS Bhubaneswar is ripped off in a video clip that was tweeted by the government's media department on Friday, as Cyclone Fani slammed Odisha, leaving three dead, villages submerged and trees and electricity poles uprooted. "Extensive damage to the structure of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, all patients, staff and students safe," Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan was quoted as saying.
The premier institute also cancelled its post-graduate test scheduled for Sunday in view of the cyclone. "AIIMS PG exam is scheduled on 5th May. Due to cyclone Fani, AIIMS Delhi is cancelling the exam centre in Bhubaneswar. Another exam will be conducted for students affected by this cancellation as soon as normalcy returns," she was quoted as saying.
Several videos showed the impact of powerful gales and heavy rain after Cyclone Fani hit the Odisha coast this morning.
In videos posted by Sitanshu Kar, the Director General of the Press Information Bureau, the roof at the undergraduate hostel in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneshwar was seen being blown off.
"Water tanks have blown off, lightening poles are down, air conditioners damaged. We have enough supplies, ready to support the state," the Health Secretary was quoted as saying by Mr Kar in another tweet.
Many such videos have shown the scale of Cyclone Fani's impact in Puri. To the sound of roaring and howling winds, which moved at the speed of around 200 km per hour, trees swayed wildly - many were uprooted - and rain pummeled buildings in the videos.
Three persons were killed; one old man in a shelter died of a heart attack; another person went out in the storm and was crushed by a tree. A 65-year-old woman died of suspected heart attack at a cyclone shelter.
Streets were deserted in Puri and Bhubaneswar as the worst storm in 20 years crossed both. Power lines were damaged.
Over 11 lakh people have been moved to safety and over 240 medical institutions have been provided with power back-up. Hundreds of ambulances are on standby, officials say. Nearly 160 trains have been called and flights have been stopped from Bhubaneswar and Kolkata.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose campaign schedule has been reworked because of the cyclone, said at a rally that the "centre stands with people in states facing severe cyclone."
Fani is the strongest cyclonic storm since the Super Cyclone of 1999, which left nearly 10,000 dead.
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