Cyclone Dana: Red alert in 7 districts of Odisha; 19 NDRF teams on standby | Latest updates

Cyclone Dana is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha in the early hours of Friday.

Cyclone Dana news: As Cyclone Dana barrels toward the Odisha coast, threatening to impact nearly half of the state's population, state chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness at Lok Seva Bhavan in Bhubaneswar,.

Puri, Oct 24 (ANI): Lifeguards patrol the Puri beach as Cyclone Dana is expected to make landfall over the Odisha-West Bengal coast, in Puri on Thursday. (ANI Photo) (ANI)

During the meeting, the CM directed officials to ensure “zero casualty” due to the natural calamity. Follow Cyclone Dana LIVE updates here.

Odisha minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra told the news agency that everyone is on alert in the areas where the cyclone is expected to make landfall.

"All the ministers have been given responsibilities to look after the affected areas. One IAS officer to each district has also been deployed... All are alert in those places where the cyclone is expected to make landfall. Officers are working sincerely, our party workers are also working," he said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in both Odisha and West Bengal have been placed on standby, along with State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams.

Cyclone Dana is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday as a severe cyclonic storm, with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph).

The weather system over the Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 12 kmph during past the six hours, and lay centred about 210 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 240 km south-southeast of Dhamra (Odisha) and 310 km south of Sagar Island (West Bengal) at 8.30 am.

Cyclone Dana: Here are the latest updates

• Heavy rainfall and strong winds were reported from the coastal belt of Odisha on Thursday morning as severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ approached closer to the state’s coast, the IMD said.
• The Met Department said Paradip recorded the highest rainfall of 62 mm, while Rajnagar in Kendrapara district received 24 mm rain in the last four hours.
• Roads in some areas of Balasore, Bhadrak, Bhitarkania and Puri were blocked, after trees were uprooted due to strong winds, according to PTI.

The IMD has issued a ‘red warning’ for heavy to very heavy rainfall in seven districts of Odisha – Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur – on Thursday.

Authorities in Odisha's Puri have advised devotees against visiting the Jagannath temple the city and have expedited preparations to minimise the impact of the calamity on the 12th-century shrine, PTI reported.

In West Bengal, the coastal districts witnessed moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds since the early hours of Thursday, while Kolkata woke up to an overcast sky and intermittent showers.

The IMD has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy downpour in isolated places in the south Bengal districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts on Thursday and Friday.

About 3 lakh people in Odisha and 1.14 lakh people in West Bengal have been evacuated to safe places in preparation for Cyclone Dana.

A total of 7,285 cyclone centres have so far been set up, and 91 medical teams deployed in Odisha, which is is likely to face a multi-hazard situation when the cyclone makes the landfall. The authorities have also engaged 19 teams of the NDRF, 51 teams of the ODRAF and fire services personnel.

All schools and education institutes in Odisha and West Bengal have been closed until October 26. The Bhubaneswar and Kolkata airports have also decided to suspend flight operations between 5pm and 6pm.

(Inputs from PTI, ANI)