Cyclone Fani Odisha: "The home is shaking," a young man in Bhubaneswar said
Cyclone Fani has come down heavily on Odisha barrelling through the state with wind speeds as high as 200 km per hour. In Bhubaneswar, people have come down on the roads taking shelter under shades from the heavy rain saying their "homes were shaking".
"We were up there, but the home is shaking. So we came down here," a young man said.
The group of young men called it a terrifying experience and said they had gone to another building for shelter however they couldn't brave the very strong winds.
On being asked how they were laughing in the devastating scenario, the trio said they were "laughing out of fear" and said staying with friends in the situation gave them "courage".
The bustling winds and rain made it difficult to see. A car was seen abandoned amid the storm, as the door had be blown off while the occupants were stepping out of it.
From billboards to asbestos sheets to tin roof tops, everything was in the air. Even motorcycles got blown away by the wind; there were debris all around.
The youngsters said they had some food stored and kept all their things in their homes. The young men, who were hungry and had not eaten since morning, stacked up some biscuits from a shop as the roof went off it.
"All is fair is cyclone and hunger...the rain would have ruined it all (food in the shop)," they defended themselves.
Three people have been killed in the disaster and 160 have been injured in Odisha. The extremely severe cyclone uprooted trees and electricity poles, and cut off power supply in many parts of the state. Large areas in the temple town of Puri and other places were submerged as heavy rain battered the coast, according to officials.
Flights and trains have been cancelled on a massive scale as well. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and disaster management agencies are on stand-by.
The cyclonic storm - the strongest cyclone in India in 20 years - is weakening gradually and moving towards West Bengal. The Odisha government has evacuated over 11 lakh people, including at least 600 pregnant women, to camps on higher grounds.