Cyclone Dana: Odisha, Bengal govts to evacuate 2 million people
Cyclone Dana: The West Bengal and Odisha governments have closed all educational institutions and offices for three days since Wednesday
Bhubaneswar/Kolkata: The Odisha and West Bengal governments on Wednesday said they have made arrangements for evacuation of two million people from the areas to be hit by Cyclone Dhana, which is expected to make a landfall on Thursday late night or Friday earning morning between Bhitarkanika National Park-Dhamra port in Odisha and Sagar Island in West Bengal.
The storm is expected to intensify into a severe cyclone with wind gusting at a speed of up to 120 kilometer per hour when it hits Odisha coast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said. It is expected to bring up to 200 mm of rainfall in 14 districts in Odisha and nine in West Bengal from Thursday onwards.
As a precautionary measure, the West Bengal and Odisha governments have closed all educational institutions and offices for three days since Wednesday. The officials deployed for the disaster management will work at their designated places, the officials said. People have been advised to remain indoors from Thursday afternoon when the wind speed is expected to reach up to 100 km per hour. Tourists in coastal areas of both the states were told to leave beach resorts and move to safe shelters, officials said.
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The Odisha government on Wednesday started evacuating people from around 3,000 villages in the vulnerable 14 districts. “The evacuation will continue for the next 24 hours,” said an official, adding that Odisha has a well-rehearsed protocol for cyclone management.
Odisha’s special relief commissioner, DK Singh, said the storm is likely to move north-westwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by Thursday morning and cross close to Bhitarkanika in Kendrapara district and Dhamra of Bhadrak district in Odisha between Thursday night and Friday morning.
“From Thursday morning there is likelihood of heavy rainfall (7 to 11 cm) at isolated places in Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghour and Kendrapara districts while there is likelihood of rainfall of more than 20 cm in these districts,” Singh said.
The Odisha government has designated 5,500 government buildings as shelters, deployed 10,000 personnel and has asked all senior ministers to supervise cyclone relief work. In all, 288 rescue teams including 19 NDRF teams, 51 ODRAF teams and 178 Fire Services teams, have been deployed in the districts.
Apart from a central control room, control rooms have been set up in districts to oversee the rescue and relief efforts, said revenue and disaster management minister Suresh Pujari. He added the people in the vulnerable region have been urged to reach nearest cyclone relief centres by Wednesday evening.
“From arranging cooked food to medicine and child food have been kept ready. If people are apprehending theft once they relocate to the cyclone shelters, I want to tell them police forces will be deployed in the villages,” Pujari said.
The two deputy chief ministers KV Singhdeo and Pravati Parida will be in charge of Kendrapara and Puri districts. At least six IAS officers have been sent to districts to supervise the cyclone preparedness.
As Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district, home to a large number of saltwater crocodiles, is near the landfall site, state chief wildlife warden Susanta Nanda said five teams have been formed for road clearance and two rescue teams if crocodiles stray into human settlements.
“Wildlife animals are used to winds and deer can move to higher places and crocodiles might stray during high tides. For this, we have formed two teams. There is no threat to adult birds, but their babies might get affected during winds,” Nanda said, adding that if Cyclone Dana makes landfall near Bhitarkanika, it would be a blessing as there is Mangrove forest in 200 sqkm and which can combat wind speed and stop ingress of tidal surge.
Former chief minister and leader of the Opposition in Odisha Assembly, Naveen Patnaik, who was pivotal in firming the Odisha cyclone management system, asked people not to be scared of the cyclone and called on people to cooperate with the administration in handling the cyclone’s impact.
“Odisha has faced numerous cyclones in the past and our people have bravely weathered them. Let’s take every precaution to stay safe this time too. Caring for ourselves and our loved ones is essential,” Patnaik said.
With train tracks likely to be submerged due to heavy rain, the Railways cancelled 222 trains on October 23, 24 and 25. The trains cancelled were scheduled to depart their originating stations between October 23 and 25, the SER official said, adding that more trains running through the SER zone may be cancelled if the situation demands. The Kolkata-headquartered SER zone is spread across West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
The Eastern Railway (ER) will not operate any EMU local train from Sealdah station in West Bengal from 8pm on October 24 till 10am on October 25 in view of the cyclonic storm Dana over the Bay of Bengal, an official said.
The NDRF said it has so far deployed 13 teams across south Bengal to respond to any emergency situation. West Bengal power minister Aroop Biswas held a video conference with district power officials to coordinate preparedness to tackle any eventuality owing to the cyclonic storm, an official said.
Bengal minister Bankim Chandra Hazra said preparations have been made to house a million people and the process to evacuate at least one lakh people, who are in most vulnerable villages, has started. “Authorities have ordered the shutdown of all educational institutions” in nine districts of the state until Sunday, he added.
A senior official at the international airport in Kolkata, India’s third-biggest city by population, said authorities there were weighing whether to stop all air traffic from Thursday.
The Met warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy downpours 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 October 24 and 25.
Advising fishermen not to venture into the sea from October 23 to 25, the Met warned that wind speed is likely to reach 60 kmph along and off Odisha-West Bengal coasts from October 23 and gradually increase to 120 kmph, from October 24 night till October 25 morning.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said it is on high alert and has mobilised its vessels and aircraft, positioning them “strategically” to respond swiftly to any contingency over the Bay of Bengal.