Extremely severe CYCLONIC Fani hit the ODISHA coast in Puri early morning today with a wind speed or around 175 kmph.

The Navy, the National Disaster Response Force and the Coast Guard are on high alert. The Met department has issued a "yellow warning" for Odisha, predicting heavy to very heavy rain in several areas. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have been placed on high alert too.

Here are six things you should know about this cyclone:

Where Cyclone Fani got its name

The name of the Cyclone 'Fani', pronounced as 'Foni' was suggested by Bangladesh. It means 'Snake' or 'hood of snake'.

India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan and Thailand send names of tropical cyclones developing in the North Indian Ocean to the regional committee. Presently, each country has suggested eight names for cyclones OCCURRING in FUTURE. The name ‘Fani’ was decided from a list containing 64 names.

A brief history of storms

According to the IMD, in the past 126 years (1891-2017) only 14 severe tropical cyclones have formed in April over the Bay of Bengal. Out of those, only one storm crossed the Indian mainland. Cyclone Fani will be the second storm to form in April and cross the mainland. The last severe cyclone 'Nargis' in 2008 devastated Myanmar.