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Cyclone Dana made landfall in Odisha’s Bhadrak district in the wee hours of Friday, bringing heavy rain and winds up to 110 kmph, causing widespread disruption.
Cyclone Dana makes landfall in Odisha
Heavy, incessant rain lashed the Bhadrak district of Odisha as Cyclone Dana’s landfall process began late on Thursday and continued until the early hours of Friday. As per sources with the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the landfall process has now concluded. However, heavy rain and gusty winds uprooted trees and blocked several roads in many areas of the state.
There were no reports of any major damage or casualties due to the impact of the cyclone. Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi reviewed the post-cyclone situation in Bhubaneswar.
Restoration work had already begun in some areas.
Flight operations at Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar, that were earlier supposed to resume at 9 am today, resumed at 8 am, news agency ANI reported quoting an airport official.
Meanwhile, flight operations in West Bengal also remain affected due to the impact of Cyclone Dana.
As the landfall process began in the wee hours of Friday, the coastal districts of Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore and nearby Jagatsinghpur district witnessed a sudden increase in wind speed which reached 100 kmph to 110 kmph, accompanied by extremely heavy rain.
An update with the weather department at nearly 6 am today stated, “The severe cyclonic storm Dana moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 10 kmph and lay centred at 0530 hrs IST of today, October 25, over North coastal Odisha.”
“The landfall process continues and the rear sector of the cyclone is entering into land. The landfall process would continue for next one to two hours,” it said, adding, “It is likely to move nearly West-Northwestwards across North Odisha and weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm by forenoon of today, October 25.”
IMD FORECAST FLASH FLOODS IN 16 ODISHA DISTRICTS
Hours before the landfall process began, the weather department said as many as 16 districts in Odisha were expected to receive flash floods due to cyclone-induced heavy rainfall in the state.
Later, the IMD, in its forecast, said that low to moderate flash floods were likely in watershed areas in the state in the next 24 hours (until the landfall process continued).
The districts, which were likely to witness flash floods, included Angul, Balasore, Boudh, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Khurda, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh and Puri.
The weather department also forecast inundation in low-lying areas in Kendrapara, Balasore and Bhadrak districts due to a tidal surge of one to two metres during the landfall process of Cyclone Dana.
LAKHS WERE EVACUATED TO SAFER PLACES
Earlier on Thursday, Chief Minister Majhi said that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had enquired about the Odisha government’s preparedness to tackle the situation arising out of the cyclone.
The Chief Minister said that the state has already evacuated around 5.84 lakh people from the high-risk zones located in the low-lying areas of coastal districts.
In West Bengal too, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the administration identified over 3.5 lakh people to be evacuated from low-lying areas of the state in the wake of Cyclone Dana.
The Chief Minister urged people to take precautionary measures and cooperate with the administration and the police, adding that 2,43,374 people had taken shelter in camps.
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