Kolkata airport to suspend operations as cyclone Fani intensifies

No flight will depart or arrive at Kolkata airport between 9.30 pm of May 3 and 6 pm on May 4 due to cyclone Fani, DGCA has said. Earlier in the day, Airport Authority of India had issued an alert to all coastal airports to ensure all precautions and SOPs are put in place immediately.

A massive exodus is also underway in coastal Odisha on Thursday as hundreds of thousands of people left their home and hearth, on foot and by vehicles, to escape the fury of cyclone 'Fani' in probably the largest evacuation ahead of a natural disaster in the country.

Fani is the most severe cyclonic storm since the super cyclone of 1999 that claimed close to 10,000 lives and left a trail of destruction in vast swathes of the state, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre (JWTC).