Bhubaneswar: Cyclone ‘Dana’ is expected to make landfall between Bhitarkanika of Kendrapara and Dhamra in Bhadrak district, informed Uma Shankar Das, atmospheric scientist in India Meteorological Department.
As many as 288 rescue teams have been deployed in 13 Odisha districts to tackle any eventualities that may occur during the cyclone Dana’s landfall process.
The cyclonic storm “DANA” over East-central Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a speed of 15 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centred at 0830 hrs IST of today, the 23rd October, over the same region near latitude 16.5° N and longitude 89.6°E, about 520 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 600 km south-southeast of Sagar Island (West Bengal) and 610 km south-southeast of Khepupara (Bangladesh). It is very likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over the northwest Bay of Bengal by the early morning of the 24th and cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island close to Bhitarkanika-Dhamra (Odisha) during night of 24th to morning of 25th October 2024 as a severe Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting 120 kmph.
The peak impact of Cyclone Dana is expected on October 24 and the early hours of October 25. Coastal regions of Odisha, including Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Ganjam, Puri, and Cuttack, are anticipated to start experiencing rainfall from today. According to Das, the heaviest rainfall across various parts of the state is predicted for tomorrow. The rainfall intensity is forecasted to escalate in these districts on October 24 and 25, and fishermen have already been advised to return to shore. Coastal wind speeds are also expected to rise starting today.