Several districts in West Bengal and Odisha received moderate to heavy rainfall on Thursday morning as Cyclone Dana inches closer to the coast, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), IMD said in a statement.
In a bulletin, the MeT department said that the weather system lay 280 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 370 km south-southeast of Sagar Island (West Bengal) at 2.30 am on Thursday.
The cyclonic storm is set to bring heavy rainfall to southern districts of West Bengal, including Kolkata, and coastal areas of Odisha, the weather agency predicted.
The MeT department further said that gale wind with speeds reaching 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph is prevailing over northwest Bay of Bengal, and fishermen should not venture out to sea till the time the cyclone blows over.
IMD further warned that wind speeds over the area is likely to increase gradually to 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph till Friday morning, and decrease thereafter.
In view of Cyclone Dana, the weather bulletin warned off heavy to very heavy rainfall in North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts of West Bengal on Thursday and Friday.
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{{/usCountry}}In view of Cyclone Dana, the weather bulletin warned off heavy to very heavy rainfall in North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts of West Bengal on Thursday and Friday.
Click here for LIVE updates on Cyclone Dana
{{/usCountry}}Public transportation to and from Kolkata's suburbs may get affected from the evening, as Eastern and South Eastern railways cancelled a large number of trains on Thursday and Friday, in view of the cyclone.
The state government also announced that around 1.14 lakh people residing in the cyclone-prone zones in Bengal have been evacuated, while over 3 lakh people have been evacuated in Odisha. Evacuation process is expected to continue till Thursday evening.
Director IMD, Manorama Mohanty, told ANI, “The cyclone Dana has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm at midnight, and it is moving north-westward with a speed of 12 km/hr during the last 6 hours, and now it is lying over central and adjoining north-west Bay of Bengal... It will make landfall between midnight today and the early morning of October 25 as a severe cyclonic storm, while crossing wind speed will be around 100 to 110 kilometres per hour.”
(With inputs from PTI)