Cyclone Yaas makes landfall; heavy rains in Odisha

The landfall process will continue for the next 3-4 hours with a sustained wind speed of 130 to 140 kmph gusting up to 155 kmph along and off Bhadrak and Balasore districts

Updated on: May 26, 2021, 10:21:00 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Very severe cyclonic storm Yaas started battering the northern coastline of Odisha with powerful winds and rains on Wednesday morning as it made landfall at Bahanaga block around 9am with sustained wind speed of 130 to 140 kmph gusting up to 155 kmph.

A turbulent sea ahead of Cyclone Yaas at Paradip, Odisha, on Tuesday, May 25. (File photo)

The director of regional meterological centre, HR Biswas, said the landfall process will continue for the next 3-4 hours with a sustained wind speed of 130 to 140 kmph gusting up to 155 kmph along and off Bhadrak and Balasore districts. Similarly, the wind speed is likely to remain 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph along and off Kendrapara district. It will decrease gradually after the landfall, becoming 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph by evening. After landfall, the system is very likely to move northwestwards across interior districts of Odisha and weaken gradually.

WATCH| Cyclone Yaas makes landfall; heavy rain & gusty winds hit Odisha

Under the impact of the cyclone, very heavy rains were reported from Chandbali in Bhadrak and Paradip in Jagatsinghpur districts. In the last 24 hours, Chandbali reported 27.3cm of rainfall followed by 19.7cm at Paradip. Due to the tidal surge, sea water entered villages in Talsara region of Jaleswar block of Balasore district.

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The first report of cyclone-related casualty came from Keonjhar district when an elderly man was crushed to death after strong winds uprooted a tree at Panchapalli village under Anandapur block. In Balasore town, a 20-year-old man was seriously injured after a tree fell on him at Railway Colony. In Chandipur coast, sea water entered a hotel resort.

Odisha special relief commissioner PK Jena said that ahead of the landfall, more than 500,000 people have been shifted to various cyclone and flood shelters across the coast.

Jena said light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy to very heavy rainfall and extremely heavy rainfall of more than 20 cm is likely at isolated places in Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, and Keonjhargarh. Heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places in Puri, Khurda, Angul, Deogarh, and Sundergarh on Wednesday. Tidal waves of height 2-3 metres above astronomical tide are likely to inundate low lying areas of Balasore, Bhadrak and about 2 metres above the astronomical tide are likely to inundate low lying areas of Medinipur, South 24 Parganas, Kendrapara, & Jagatsinghpur districts around the time of the landfall.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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