Bhubaneswar: Several dramatic videos of gusty winds and rough sea condition ahead of Cyclone Dana’s landfall surfaced on social media on Thursday amid the process of evacuating hundreds of thousands of people from coastal areas of Odisha.
The severe cyclonic storm was about 180 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 210 km south-southeast of Dhamara (Odisha) and 270 km south of Sagar Island (West Bengal) at 11.30 am. It is expected to move north-northwestwards and cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island close to Bhitarkanika and Dhamra (Odisha) during midnight and Friday morning with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting 120 kmph, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
According to latest forecast track of Cyclone Dana issued by the IMD, the eye of the storm is predicted to make landfall early on Friday, near the coal-exporting port of Dhamra in Bhadrak district.
The weather agency has also issued wind warning for different districts of Odisha on October 24-25.
Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Balasore are in high-risk zones with wind velocity of 100-110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph. Mayurbhanj is in the second category with wind speeds of 80-90 kmph, gusting to 100 kmph.
Similarly, the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Jajpur may experience wind speed of 60-80 kmph, gusting to 90 kmph and Puri, Khurda, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar 60-70 kmph, gusting to 80 kmph.
In Bhubaneswar, wind speed may increase slowly and peak by tonight. “Cyclone Dana will make landfall between midnight of today to the early morning of the morning of October 25 as a severe cyclonic storm while crossing wind speed will be around 100 to 110 kilometres per hour… In the capital city, heavy rainfall is expected and wind speed will slowly increase and the highest wind speed is likely to occur tonight,” said Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre director Manorama Mohanty.
Gale with wind speed reaching 60-70 kmph gusting to 80 kmph is currently prevailing along and off Odisha coast. It would gradually increase becoming 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph along & off north Odisha and east Medinipur district of West Bengal from October 24 afternoon till October 25 morning and decrease gradually thereafter. Gale wind speed reaching 60-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph is likely along & off south Odisha and remaining districts of coastal West Bengal from October 24 evening till October 25 morning and decrease gradually thereafter.
Red warning of extremely heavy rainfall has been issued for Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Balasore, and Mayurbhanj districts on October 24 and Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak on October 25.
Also Read: Odisha Receives Heavy Rain As Cyclone ‘Dana’ Barrels Towards Coast; IMD Issues Red Message
The weather agency has also issued advisory for fishermen, and both rail and air services have been affected. The Indian Coast Guard is also on high alert. Eastern Naval Command, in coordination with Naval Officers-in-Charge (NOIC) in Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal, have activated a comprehensive disaster response mechanism.
In Odisha, 20 NDRF teams, 51 ODRAF teams, 220 Fire Service teams and 180 platoons of police force have been deployed. “Our 20 teams are deployed in Odisha and 17 teams are in West Bengal… Odisha and West Bengal will be impacted more. It is expected that the Bhadrak district of Odisha will be affected the most. 10 coastal districts of Odisha are most affected. More than 1 lakh 70 thousand people who are in affected areas of Odisha have been evacuated…,” DIG-NDRF Mohsen Shahedi told ANI.
Check the viral videos here:
This is Odisha. Every time, invaders destroy us, we rise again. Be it Asoka, drought or cyclone. This year, we have ‘Dana’ which is now unleashing itself (@Rajnagar). Trees will be uprooted, paddy fields injured, communications disrupted, but there will be zero loss to life. pic.twitter.com/jPW8FRuprt
— Ashesh_Padhy (@PadhyAshesh) October 24, 2024
Rough sea at Konark due to #CycloneDana pic.twitter.com/oBOglF0072
— Odisha Weatherman (@OdishaWeather7) October 24, 2024
Evacuation process is underway at Biju colony under Jagatpur PS in presence of ACP Zone-I & IIC, Jagatpur P.S.#CycloneDana@odisha_police @cpbbsrctc pic.twitter.com/PuLRIg8HaM
— DCP CUTTACK (@dcp_cuttack) October 24, 2024
#WATCH | As #CycloneDana is expected to make landfall close to #Bhitarkanika and #Dhamara during mid-night of 24th to morning of 25th October; Bhadrak district administration alert people at the Dhamara beach #CycloneDanaUpdate #CycloneInOdisha #CycloneAlert #CycloneDanaAlert pic.twitter.com/9CIGizIusU
— Argus News (@ArgusNews_in) October 24, 2024
