Hurricane ‘Dana’ will make landfall early Friday; Odisha, Bengal receives heavy rainfall

Cyclone Dana is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra port in the early hours of Friday, the IMD said.

The distance between Dhamara in Bhadrak district and Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district is approximately 70 km.

It was stated that the disembarkation process would begin on the night of October 24 and continue until the morning of October 25.

IMD DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that the maximum speed during the landfall process is likely to be around 120 km per hour and added that landfall is mostly a slow process and usually takes around 5-6 hours.

“Therefore, heavy rainfall, wind and storm surge will peak during the landfall period between the night of October 24 and the morning of October 25,” he said.

Stating that Odisha will face many dangers if cyclone Dana reaches land, Mohapatra said that the state will most likely face an upward tidal wave in places where there is heavy and very heavy rainfall, as well as extremely heavy rainfall and high speed wind. Up to 2 meters.

IMD scientist Umashankar Das of Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, warned that low-lying areas in Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts may be submerged and advised the government to evacuate residents of these areas.

According to IMD sources, the wind speed in Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts will be 100-110 kilometers per hour and there will be a gusty wind of up to 120 kilometers per hour, along with extremely heavy rainfall and tidal wave during landfall, which will last for about four to five hours.

IMD has warned against uprooting trees, breaking tree branches, damaging kutcha houses, electric poles and other infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the state government has classified sensitive areas.

While Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore are in high-risk zones where the wind speed will remain at 100-110 km/hr and there will be gusts up to 120 km/hr, Mayurbhanj will be in the second category where the wind speed will be at 80-90 km/hr. 100 km/h.

Similarly, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack and Jajpur districts also fall under the third category; Wind speeds will be 60-80 km/h and strong winds will be 90 km/h. Puri, Khurda (includes Bhubaneswar), Dhenkanal and Keonjhar districts fall under the fourth category and wind speeds will be 60-70 km/hr with gusts of 80 km/hr.

To ensure public safety, the state government has deployed 288 rescue teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and Fire Services.

Districts likely to be affected include Angul, Nayagarh, Boudh, Ganjam, Deogarh and Sambalpur.

IMD has also warned that Cyclone Dana will bring significant rains to the state and predicted light to moderate rains are expected in most places, with heavy rains (7-11 cm) expected in isolated areas above Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Khordha. On the evening of October 23.

It was stated that heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in many places on October 24 and 25, and isolated areas such as Balasore, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur will receive extremely heavy rainfall (over 21 cm).

The IMD has banned all marine activities, including fishing, in the Bay of Bengal until the cyclone passes.

“All fishermen returned to shore on Tuesday evening,” Pujari said.

Meanwhile, parts of Odisha’s Kendrapara and Bhadrak districts experienced rain and adverse weather conditions on Wednesday afternoon; The outer bands of Cyclone Dana have started affecting the eastern coastline, IMD said.

As the cyclone rapidly approached the coasts of the state, various activities including the Orissa High Court, Biju Patnaik International Airport, Paradip and Dhamara ports, all educational institutions and others were suspended in the wake of the impending disaster.