Kolkata, Oct 24: Heavy rains and gusty winds battered southern West Bengal on Thursday as the state administration evacuated over 2.5 lakh people to safety in anticipation of the impending severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana,’ which is set to make landfall in Odisha after midnight.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast that the cyclone is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port late Thursday night or early Friday morning.
At 4.30 pm, the storm was located 150 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 250 km south-southeast of West Bengal’s Sagar Island.
In anticipation of the cyclone, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the state had identified more than 3.5 lakh people for evacuation from low-lying areas. As of Thursday, 243,374 people had already taken shelter in relief camps.
The IMD has warned of “heavy to very heavy rainfall” in these areas, with isolated places likely to see “extremely heavy downpours” over the next 48 hours.
Fishermen have been advised to stay away from the sea as wind speeds of up to 110 km/h are anticipated over the northwest Bay of Bengal. The storm is expected to strengthen, with winds reaching 120 km/h during landfall before gradually subsiding.
Public transportation across southern Bengal could be severely impacted.
South Eastern Railway (SER), which oversees routes in West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand, has cancelled more than 170 express and passenger trains scheduled between October 23 and 27.
In addition, Eastern Railway cancelled 68 suburban trains in the Howrah division for Friday morning, while all EMU local trains from Sealdah station were suspended from Thursday evening through Friday morning.
Kolkata Port authorities also halted ship movements until Friday evening as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata airport also suspended flight operations for 15 hours from Thursday evening in the wake of the cyclone. (PTI)
