Bhubaneswar: People in Bhadrak’s Dhamra woke up to strong winds and heavy rain on Wednesday morning as the very severe cyclonic storm Yaas inched closer to Odisha coast.
Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena informed that the landfall started around 9 am between north of Dhamra and south of Balasore close to Bahanaga block coast. “It will continue for 3-4 hours. The maximum impact will be in Balasore and Bhadrak till 3 pm. Wind speed will be around 100kmph in Mayurbhanj,” he added.
Around 5.8 lakh people have been evacuated, he added.
Cyclone Yaas is likely to make landfall by noon with wind speed of around 130 to 155 kmph. “We are expecting ‘very severe cyclonic storm’ Cyclone Yaas to make landfall by noon today with wind speed of 130-140 kmph gusting 155 kmph,” senior scientist at the IMD, Bhubaneswar, Umashankar Das told ANI.
The other districts that are likely to face the wrath are Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Cuttack and Dhenkanal. Rain to lash Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Deogarh and even a few places in Sundargarh.
Wind speed of 40kmph gusting to 60kmph will prevail in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
