BHUBANESWAR — Flights to and from the capital cities of India’s eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal, including Kolkata, will be suspended from the evening of October 24 to the morning of October 25 as Cyclone Dana approaches the region, authorities announced. The cyclone is expected to make landfall between midnight and the early hours of October 25, bringing strong winds and heavy rains.
According to the India Meteorological Department, Cyclone Dana, currently situated over the Bay of Bengal, is forecast to hit the coasts of Odisha and West Bengal with wind speeds of 100 to 110 km/h, gusting up to 120 km/h. In preparation for the storm, both states have closed schools in areas expected to be most affected and issued warnings to fishermen to stay away from the sea.
Television footage showed fishermen in Odisha securing their homes and boats as heavy winds and rain began to impact the region on October 24. In addition, authorities have begun evacuating residents from vulnerable coastal areas. “We have evacuated approximately 50,000 people so far, and a total of around 300,000 people are likely to be evacuated,” said Special Relief Commissioner Deoranjan Kumar Singh.
The Adani Group’s Dhamra port in Bhadrak, Odisha, has also suspended operations as a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, West Bengal has issued a red alert for three districts close to the expected landfall site, with the capital city of Kolkata experiencing overcast skies and intermittent rain.
Cyclone Dana is the latest in a series of severe storms that regularly hit coastal regions in India and neighboring Bangladesh during the cyclone season, which runs from April to December. Odisha, in particular, has a tragic history with cyclones. In 1999, a devastating cyclone raged for 30 hours and claimed 10,000 lives. In May of this year, a cyclone packing winds up to 135 km/h killed at least 16 people in India and Bangladesh.