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Cyclone Dana triggers heavy rainfall, uproots trees, snaps power lines
The authorities closed schools, suspended flights, and evacuated tens of thousands of people ahead of the cyclone Dana landfall in Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal
Severe cyclone Dana was expected to weaken into a cyclonic storm by forenoon after it made landfall in Odisha around midnight with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph gusting up to 120 kmph, and triggered heavy rainfall, uprooted trees, snapped power lines, and inundated some areas on the eastern coast even as no deaths or injuries were reported.
The authorities closed schools, suspended flights, and evacuated tens of thousands of people ahead of the landfall in Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal, where a surge in the seawater inundated low-lying areas and damaged paddy crops shortly before harvest. The seawater entered areas in the Sunderbans belt.
Flight operations resumed at Bhubaneswar and Kolkata airports on Friday morning hours after they were suspended on Thursday evening.
Severe storms mostly hit India’s east coast and Bangladesh during the pre-monsoon cyclone (April and May) and post-monsoon cyclone period (October and November). In October 1999, around 10,000 people were killed in Odisha’s worst cyclone in recent years which raged for 30 hours.
In its 8:30am bulletin, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the landfall process that started around midnight close to Bhitarkanika and Dhamra in Odisha continues with the rear sector entering the land. “The landfall process would continue for [the] next 1-2 hours.”
Haldia and Digha in the coastal East Midnapore district in West Bengal bordering Odisha received around 70 mm and 37 mm rain, Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas around 74 mm, and Kolkata around 7.9 mm.
IMD said the storm was likely to move nearly northwestwards across north Odisha and weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm by the forenoon of Friday. “The system was under continuous surveillance of the Doppler weather radar at Paradip,” the IMD said.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who stayed at the state secretariat overnight to monitor the situation, said they have identified 3,56,941 people, who need to be evacuated from low-lying areas in the coastal districts. She added that 1,59,837 people were evacuated until Thursday afternoon. “Around 83,537 people have been brought to 851 cyclone shelters and flood relief camps,” Banerjee said on Thursday.
In Odisha, the storm uprooted hundreds of trees and damaged makeshift houses in coastal Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, and Bhadrak districts. The landfall near Bhitarkanika in Kendrapara caused seawater ingress in a few coastal villages even as no casualties were reported so far.
The weather system continued to move north-northwestwards with a speed of 10 kmph after the landfall. Dana had a windspeed of 80-82 km per hour during landfall. Rainfall was expected to continue in coastal Odisha districts under the impact of the storm.
A revenue and disaster management official said Rajnagar block bore the brunt of the cyclone as multiple agencies including Odisha fire services, Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, and National Disaster Response Force were deployed to clear the roads.
Chief minister Mohan Majhi, who visited the Special Relief Commissioner’s office in Bhubaneswar to take stock of the situation on Friday, said nearly 600,000 people from low-lying areas of 11 coastal districts of Odisha were evacuated to cyclone shelters.
