'Baby Fani' born in Odisha Railway hospital as cyclone slams coast

A baby was born in an Odisha railway hospital as the extremely severe storm wreaked its havoc on Friday and her name came to officials in a flash she could only be Lady Fani for them

A baby was born at 11.03 am in the railway hospital in Mancheswar, barely five km from the Odisha capital Bhubaneswar,as Cyclone Fani raged outside, the doctors maintained their calm and delivered her safely, they said.

The child, born to a 32-year-old railway employee working as a helper at the Coach Repair Workshop, Mancheswar, and the mother are doing fine, said officials of the Bhubaneswar-headquartered East Coast Railways (ECoR).

Packing heavy rain and winds with speeds of up to 175 kmph, Fani slammed into the Odisha coast Friday morning.

"Baby made landfall at 11.03. We are calling her Lady Fani as she was born when the hospital was hit. This was the mother's first baby and both of them are doing fine. The hospital suffered some damage," ECoR spokesperson J P Mishra said.

"She was born as the cyclone wreaked havoc and it was raining heavily. The doctors kept their calm and delivered her," Mishra added.

It is not clear if the parents want to name her Fani.  The word 'Fani' means a snake's hood and it was suggested by Bangladesh, said Mritunjay Mohapatra, additional director general of the IMD.

Cyclone Fani: Three killed in separate incidents in Odisha

Cyclone Fani claimed three victims in separate incidents as it battered the Odisha coast on Friday. According to reports, a teenager was killed when a tree came crashing down on him at a place within Sakhigopal police station area limits in Puri district. Flying debris from a concrete structure hit a woman in Nayagarh district when she had gone to fetch water, killing her. In Debendranarayanpur village in Kendrapara district, a 65-year-old woman died after suspected heart attack at a cyclone shelter, official information reaching Bhubaneshwar said.

Fani, an extremely severe cyclonic storm lashed the Odisha coast on Friday morning, uprooting trees, blowing away thatched huts, and disrupting communication links

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