Cyclone Dana is set to make landfall near Odisha on Friday morning, with wind speeds up to 120 kmph, thus bringing heavy rainfall to West Bengal and neighbouring areas.
Several parts of West Bengal received a pounding of heavy rain on Thursday morning as the severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ moved closer to the coastal areas of the state that also affected the neighbouring Odisha. The IMD said the cyclonic storm is expected to hit the coast between Bhitra Khan peak tourist destination and Dhamra Port in Odisha state Thursday night or early Friday with a wind speed of up to 120 kmph.
On Thursday afternoon, Cyclone Dana was centered 200 kilometres from Odisha’s coast.
There are certain Units of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been placed in different locations of South Bengal for coping up any disasters.
It also wanted to exercise Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR ) capabilities.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation recently set up a control room at the headquarters in Kolkata and also dismissed all leave for its essential personnel.
CYCLONE DANA: WARNINGS ISSUED
The weather department has warned that gale wind speed is between 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph has started over northwest Bay of Bengal, advising fishermen not to go into the sea.
It said that the wind speed over the area is gradually rising to 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph up to early Friday and declining afterwards.
A bulletin by the weather department also cautioned that heavy to very heavy rains along with extremely heavy rain occurred in isolated places in the South Bengal districts comprising of North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly on Thursday and Friday.
A WORD FROM WEATHER DEPARTMENT OVER THE CYCLONE DANA LANDFALL
About Cyclone Dana, the director general of Met Department of India, Mrityunjay Mohapatra said to media “The Cyclone is expected to make a landfall between tonight and early morning tomorrow”. In the exact geography term the landfall will be between Katersingh and Dhamra near, Puri to Sagardeep and Bhitarkarnika. The wind speed during the landfall is expected to be 14-18 knots as it speeds up in the shallow waters and reaches up to 100-120 kmph.”
At present the wind speed in coastal areas is between 60-70 km of hour per mile. There will be very high velocity of wind in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak, Balasore and Medinipur districts. The intensity of rainfall will rise slightly over the next stage,” he said.
“A few district including khurda, puri, jagatsinghpur, kendrapada, bhadrak, balasore, mayurbhanj, keonjhar, dhenkanal, cuttack are expected to receive extra-ordinary heavy rainfall at least,” he said.
This cyclone Dana escalated to severe cyclonic storm last night and which has journeyed north, north-westward and today in the morning it is stationed about 200 km southeast. About Cyclone Dana, it will be moving north- northwestward and crossing Odisha and West Bengal between Puri and Sagar Island as a severe cyclonic Storm with wind of 100-120 kmph is expected to prevail.
The worst flooding will be over Odisha then the west Bengal coastal areas. After the landfall, Cyclone Dana is likely to continue the west northwest motion and therefore could lead to an improvement of the rain status over the southern part of Jharkhand. We have also warned south Jharkhand districts at isolated places with heavy to very heavy rainfall. The ocean-level wind speed of 40 to 50 Km/hr could prevail in Jharkhand and 50 to 60 kmph in interior districts of Odisha in October 24 and 25,” said the official.
TRAINS, FLIGHTS, OTHER PUBLIC TRANSPORT HARMED
Local flights at Kolkata airport will not be permitted from 6:00 PM on Thursday till 9:00 AM on Friday due to gusty winds and very heavy rainfall expected in some parts of the region during Cyclone Dana landfall. Schools in the worst affected area of the Odisha and West Bengal have been closed.
Train services to and from the outskirts of Kolkata may be disrupted from today evening, as the Eastern and South Eastern railways cancelled many a trains on Thursday and Friday due to the cyclone.
Over 170 express and passenger trains to and from the areas that fall under the South Eastern Railway (SER) division have been called off, according to an official at PTI. Many of the cancelled trains were due to leave their stations of origin between October 23 and October 27, he said.
The south East regional zone, SER is located in Kolkata and extends over West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand states.
Apart from that, there will be no EMU local trains from Sealdah station on the South and Hasnabad sections on the Eastern Railway (ER) from 8 pm tomorrow till 10 am on Friday, the official added.
The Eastern Railway also cancelled 68 suburban train services on the Howrah division on Friday morning, he said.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said it has deployed its teams, boats, hovercrafts, ships and aircraft in a bid to contain any circumstances over the Bay of Bengal.
All ferry services from Sunderbans of North and South 24 paraganas district and across the river Hooghly in Kolkata and other adjoining districts will be suspended in view of the fishermen’s warning signal about change of weather, said officials.
LAKHS OF PEOPLE EVACUATED BECAUSE OF CYCLONE DANA
According to the reports available till Thursday, cyclone dana and more than 1.5 lakh of the people were shifted to safer places. On Wednesday, the Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced that over 30 per cent of one lakh people have been shifted to safer areas by evening. He also checked the readiness of the government for the cyclone dana that is expected to cross the Odisha coast, near Bhitarkaniki and Dhamra, early Friday.
“It is anticipated that three districts will be badly affected.” Measure are being made to carry the populace out of risk areas. Amongst them, the response to this humanitarian appeal has been positive; 30 per cent of 10 lakh, that is 3 lakh people have been evacuated. “And the rest will be evacuated on Thursday,” the Chief Minister said.
On the other hand those who have been evacuated were being given dry and cooked food and everything else has been arranged in the cyclone shelters.
In his statement the Chief Minister said that the state government is fully prepared to face the situation due to the cyclonic storm and advised the people to stay safe and do not panic. He also said he has appointed ministers for various districts and posted experienced officers for cyclone cases.
Red Signal Served At 3 Ports In Odisha
As cyclone Dana is expected to strike early Friday, three ports in Orissa have hoisted great danger signal number 10, a senior IMD officer said on Wednesday.
Director Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar stating that the ports of Dhamra, Paradip and Puri have hoisted great danger signal number 10 and Gopalpur port has hoisted one danger signal number 8.
The great danger signal number 10 is issued at ports that are expected to experience severe weather due to a storm of great intensity, with wind speeds of 89 kmph or more. It also indicated that the cyclonic storm is expected to cross over or near the ports.
Similarly, the port warning great danger signal number 8 indicates wind blowing at a speed of 63-87 kmph.
