Cyclone Dana updates: Coastal Odisha was battered by heavy winds and rain as Cyclone Dana, classified as a severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds reaching up to 110 kmph, made landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra shortly after midnight on Thursday, October 24, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. The landfall process is expected to continue into Friday morning, October 25, according to the IMD.
The coastal districts of Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore and nearby Jagatsinghpur district witnessed sudden increase in wind speed. A revenue department official said reports of trees getting uprooted were also received at the office of the Special Relief Commissioner.
Several roads were blocked in Bhadrak district of Odisha after trees were uprooted following strong winds and downpours.
In a post on X, the IMD said, "Landfall process has commenced. It lay near latitude 20.5° N and longitude 87.1°E, about 50 km east-northeast of Paradip (Odisha), 40 km south-southeast of Dhamara (Odisha) and 160 km southwest of Sagar Island (West Bengal)."
Tropical Cyclone Dana tracker: 10 latest updates
There has been no report of any major damage or casualty so far even as the landfall of cyclone Dana process started commenced in the intervening nights of October 24 and 25.
The storm moved north-northwest at a speed of 15 kmph over the past six hours before making landfall between Bhitarkanika in the Kendrapara district and Dhamra in Bhadrak, with wind speeds of around 110 kmph, Umashankar Das, a senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar, told news agency PTI.
When the centre of the system reaches land, wind speeds are expected to reach 120 kmph, Umashankar Das said, adding that the landfall process will last for about four to five hours. "The system is under continuous surveillance of the Doppler weather radar at Paradip," he added.
Around 6am on Friday, IMD director Manorama Mohanty said the cyclone was about 15 km north of Dhamra and 30 km northwest of Bhitarkanika. “Now the current intensity is a severe cyclonic storm and wind speed is to 100-110 km/hr...landfall process continues. It will continue for next 1-2 hours. It is likely to West northwestward across North Odisha and weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm,” Manorama Mohanty told news agency ANI.
Odisha revenue and disaster management minister said around 10 districts are likely to be affected by the cyclone, adding that the evacuation proves has already reached its conclusion.
Pujari said, "Around 10 districts are likely to be affected by the cyclone, comprising 60 blocks, 2131 villages, 12 urban local bodies, and 55 wards in different urban local bodies… Three lakh seventy-seven thousand people have already been evacuated... We have prepared 7307 relief centres across different districts. 4,756 cyclone relief centres are already operational...6454 domestic animals have been brought to relief centres...213 medical teams have been deployed to take care of the evacuated people 120 veterinary teams have also been positioned in different locations," ANI quoted Pujari as saying.
Earlier on Thursday, chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi said both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah had enquired about the Odisha government’s preparedness to tackle the situation arising out of the cyclone. The chief minister said Odisha has already evacuated around 5.84 lakh people from the high risk zones located in the low-lying areas of coastal districts.
IMD DG Mrutunjay Mohapatra said the landfall also accelerated the tidal surge, which could go up to two metres above the astronomical height, in Kendrapada, Balasore and Bhadrak districts.
Gale of wind speed reaching 60-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph is likely along and off south Odisha till Friday morning and decrease gradually thereafter, the IMD said.
The IMD has also said light-to-moderate rainfall in most places and heavy-to-very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall (above 21 cm) at isolated places in Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsingpur Keonjhar, Jajpur, Cuttack and Dhenkanal, Khurda and Puri districts are expected till October 25.
