Cyclone Dana to make landfall on Oct 24: Here’s what we know so far

The storm is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over the northwest Bay of Bengal by the early morning of October 24. It is likely to make landfall along the north Odisha and West Bengal coasts, between Puri and Sagar Island, between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port, around 70km away, between the night of October 24 and the morning of October 25. It is predicted to hit with wind speeds of 100-110 km/h, gusting up to 120 km/h.

The maximum speed during the landfall process is likely to be around 120 kmph, IMD DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said. He said landfall is mostly a slow process which usually takes around 5-6 hours. "Therefore, heavy rainfall, wind and storm surge will reach the peak during the landfall time which is between October 24 night and October 25 morning," he added.

According to the latest IMD bulletin, the cyclone moved northwestwards with a speed of 13 kmph and lay centred about 490 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 520 km south-southeast of Dhamra (Odisha) and 570 km southsoutheast of Sagar Island (West Bengal).

During the landfall, a tidal surge of up to 2 metres is expected, with the cyclone reaching the coast at a wind velocity of 120 km/h, Umashankar Das, senior scientist at the regional meteorological centre in Bhubaneswar, said.

Low-lying areas in Kendrapara, Bhadrak, and Balasore districts are likely to be inundated and recommended that the government evacuate residents from these regions. To facilitate this, 288 rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), and Fire Services have been deployed, with additional personnel requested from the NDRF.

The IMD cautioned that Cyclone 'Dana' would bring significant rainfall to the state, predicting light to moderate rain at most locations, with heavy rainfall (7-11 cm) in isolated areas over Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, and Khordha starting in the evening of October 23.

The Odisha government has identified 14 districts at risk, with the coastal areas facing high winds and inland regions expected to receive heavy to extremely heavy rainfall. They are Angul, Puri, Nayagarh, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, and Mayurbhanj.

The Met has also 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.

Eastern and South Eastern railways have cancelled over 150 trains on October 24 and 25, in view of the cyclone. The Eastern Railway will not operate any local train from Sealdah station from 8 pm on Thursday till 10 am on Friday.

(With PTI inputs)