According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), a deep depression over the east-central Bay of Bengal is set to turn into a severe cyclonic storm named Cyclone Dana and is likely to cause landfall near Balasore in Odisha near the Dhamra port. The deep depression moved west-northwest wards with a wind speed of 3 kmph during the storm.
The weather department issued an alert for Odisha and West Bengal coasts as it intensified into a cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours over the east-central Bay of Bengal. Thereafter, moving northwestwards, it is very likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over the northwest Bay of Bengal by the morning of October 24 and cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island during the interview night of Thursday and Friday with the wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting 120 mph.
The authorities of the Odisha and West Bengal governments have begun evacuating people near the coasts and ordered educational institutions to be suspended until October 26 as cyclonic storm Dana is set to cross the coasts in the early hours of October 25.
SDO Kakdwip Madhusudan Mondal said, "Kakdwip is a coastal sub-division so the public is familiar with these types of situations, cyclone Remal occurred few days ago and now 'Dana' is coming so we have certain preparations that are permanent here. We have 64 MPCS and 12 flood centres, we also select schools and if the need comes, we use that as well. We also keep 158 air-dropping places identified, currently 41 are there...there are relief godowns."
Over 10 lakh people from 3,000 villages in 14 districts in Odisha will be shifted to relief camps as half of the state's population likely to be affected.
Several Trains Cancelled
The cyclone Dana has also affected the train movement with several trains cancelled. Train No. 06087 from Tirunelveli Junction - Shalimar Special scheduled to leave Tirunelveli on October 24 has been cancelled.
Another train to from Bhubaneswar to Rameswaram (Rmanathapuram), Superfast Express scheduled to leave Bhubaneswar on October 25 has been cancelled.
Five teams of NDRF 7th battalion which reached Bhubaneswar airport with the necessary equipment required for evacuation and rescue operations, leave for various districts.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) teams are on high alert and patrolling areas to respond to uncertainty during heavy rainfall in the two neighbouring states. According to the IMD, cyclonic storm Dana is likely to impact the entire eastern coast from Puri in Odisha to Sagar Island in West Bengal.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi urged all the MLAs to coordinate with the authorities in relief and rescue operations in the state. Multipurpose cyclone shelters, flood shelters and other buildings have been identified to shelter the vulnerable population. Odisha government has put 14 districts such as Angul, Puri, Nayagarh, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Ganjam and Mayurbhanj on alert.