Cyclone Dana is currently barreling towards coastal Odisha. It is set to make landfall on early Friday morning and bring heavy rains and thunderstorms to the state.
Amidst this Odisha state authorities are in a rush to evacuate around 10 lakh people and more as Cyclone Dana approaches the state’s coast. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that the cyclone has intensified.
The IMD also reported that wind speeds are expected to reach 120 kmph. It is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra port tonight.
The Met Department has warned of ‘extremely heavy’ to ‘very heavy’ rain in West Bengal. Other districts such as North and South 24 Parganas, Kolkata, and Hooghly are also expected to have extremely heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday.
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To avoid any hazard the Kolkata and Bhubaneswar airports will suspend operations as a precaution, and around 200 trains have been canceled.
According to reports, The Airports Authority of India (AAI) official on Wednesday said “The step was taken keeping in mind the safety of passengers, airline employees, equipments, navigational aids and infrastructure”.
“In view of cyclone Dana’s impact on the coastal region of West Bengal, including Kolkata, it has been decided to suspend the flight operations from 6 pm on October 24 to 9 am on October 25 due to predicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall at Kolkata,” he said further.
According to reports over 3 lakh people have been evacuated in Odisha, while West Bengal has moved over 1.14 lakh people to safer locations.
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