Cyclone Dana triggers heavy rains in Odisha, hundreds of thousands evacuated

As severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ approached Odisha, the state government shut schools, cancelled trains and flights, told fisherfolk to not go into the Bay of Bengal, and evacuated hundreds of thousands of people.

Danada is expected to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha in the early hours of Friday with wind speeds reaching up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Ahead of the storm’s landfall, heavy rain and wind slammed the coastal belt of Odisha on Thursday morning.

“The severe cyclonic storm is likely to re-curve slightly towards west and west-southwards after landfall, triggering rain in southern Odisha around October 26. However, the landfall and wind speed predictions remain unchanged,” said Manorama Mohanty, the Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre at Bhubaneswar.

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Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi told PTI that around 300,000 people have been evacuated from vulnerable areas.

Even though Majhi said that the storm is likely to severely affect only three districts, the authorities have planned to evacuate over 1 million people from 3,000 villages in 14 districts.

“The government is fully prepared to tackle the situation. You are in safe hands,” said Majhi.

The 14 districts where evacuations are being carried out are Angul, Puri, Nayagarh, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, and Mayurbhanj, according to PTI.

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An official told the news agency that 51 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and 178 fire service teams have so far been deployed in the vulnerable districts while 20 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been mobilised.

Multipurpose cyclone shelters, flood shelters, and other buildings have been identified to shelter the vulnerable population, as per the agency.

Arrangements have been made for the provision of food, drinking water, lighting, sanitation, and health facilities to the people to be evacuated to such shelters, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari told PTI.