Evacuations underway as severe cyclone barrels towards Odisha

The coastal regions of Odisha and West Bengal experienced moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds as severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ inched closer to the states’ coasts, reports indianexpress.

Citing the Meteorological Office, the Indian media said the cyclone may hit the land around midnight on Thursday (October 24).

The cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph). Both the states have put the government machinery on high alert, with Odisha having evacuated nearly 4 lakh people and West Bengal over 2.82 lakh.

Apart from the evacuations, the Odisha government has set up over 7,200 cyclone shelters to accommodate the evacuees. Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has deployed 22 companies of the National Disaster Response Force (NDFR) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in addition to a large number of police force, and district administration officials. Schools and colleges will remain shut till October 26 in the affected areas of both the states.

According to the met department, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts of Odisha are expected to face the maximum impact of the cyclone, which is likely to reach wind velocity of 100-120 kmph, including heavy to very heavy rainfall. They have also predicted a storm surge of around 1 metre (above the astronomical tide) during the landfall, resulting in inundation of low-lying areas in Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts.

In Bengal, heavy to very heavy rainfall in North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly is expected._Agencies.