Have taken pre-emptive measures to deal with cyclone Fani: Coast Guard

As the "extremely severe" cyclonic storm 'Fani' is likely to hit Odisha's shores on Friday, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has taken a series of pre-emptive measures such as deployment of ships with disaster relief material, use of Dornier aircraft to warn fishing boats and special community interaction programmes in coastal areas, according to an official statement Wednesday.

The ICG said it has implemented the lessons learnt from Cyclone Ockhi, which hit Tamil Nadu and Kerala coasts in 2017, to ensure safety of lives at sea.

"Fisheries authorities, state authorities and local administration were warned April 23, 2019, onwards for precautionary measures," the ICG said in its statement.

To ensure that widespread precautionary measures are in place in areas likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm, the ICG is in closely liasioning with state administration as well as the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The storm over the Bay of Bengal that lay centred about 660 km ...