Over 6 lakh evacuated to safety in Bengal, Odisha as Cyclone Dana makes landfall

Authorities in Odisha and West Bengal evacuated lakhs of people, shut schools, cancelled more than 400 trains and suspended flight operations as they braced on Thursday for severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’, which is expected to make landfall in Odisha past midnight at a speed of 120 km/h.

According to the IMD’s latest bulletin at 5.30 pm, ‘Dana’ moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 13 km/h during past 6 hours and lay centred about 90 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 110 km south-southeast of Dhamara (Odisha) and 210 km south of Sagar Island (West Bengal).

Odisha Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said the government had deployed 385 rescue teams comprising 19 NDRF teams, ODRAF (51), Fire Service (220) and Forest staff (95). This apart, as many as 150 platoons (1 platoon comprises 30 personnel) of Odisha Police personnel had been pressed into service for rescue, road clearing and other activities at the ground level.

Claiming that the state was well prepared at the ground level to face the eventuality, Pujari said as many as 3.5 lakh people had so far been evacuated to the safety and housed in 4,756 relief centres. He said as many as 2,131 villages in 11 districts would be affected in the cyclone.

As part of precautionary measures, East Coast Railways cancelled 203 trains passing or originating through Odisha even as flight services remained suspended at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here for 16 hours from 5 pm of Thursday. Bus services have also been halted till the cyclone passes the state.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said his government was committed to “zero casualty”. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been apprised about the state’s preparation. The CM has rushed nine ministers, including two Deputy CMs to different districts, and senior IAS officers to the ground for supervision of the rescue and relief operation.

The IMD has forecast that the cyclone is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

IMD DG Mrutunjay Mohapatra said the system is likely to cause extremely heavy rainfall, tidal surge up to 2 meters and some districts to experience high velocity winds of 120 km/h during the landfall of the system. In neighbouring West Bengal, heavy rains and gusty winds battered the southern districts as the state administration evacuated over 2.5 lakh people to safety in anticipation of the impending severe cyclonic storm.

South Eastern Railway (SER), which oversees routes in West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, has cancelled more than 170 express and passenger trains scheduled between October 23 and 27.

In addition, Eastern Railway cancelled 68 suburban trains in the Howrah division for Friday morning, while all EMU local trains from Sealdah station were suspended from Thursday evening through Friday morning. Kolkata Port authorities also halted ship movements until Friday evening as a precautionary measure. Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said she would be staying the entire Thursday night at the state secretariat and personally monitor the situation. The chief secretary and home secretary would also be monitoring the situation from their respective residences and rejoin her on Friday morning.