The governments of West Bengal and Odisha have begun to evacuate residents and have made the decision to close schools in regions that are at risk due to Cyclone Dana, which is expected to hit the coasts early on October 25 with winds of 100–110 kmph with gusts of up to 120 kmph.
With half of the state’s population expected to be impacted by the upcoming cyclone, the Odisha government has decided to relocate over 10 lakh people from 3,000 villages spread over 14 districts to relief camps, according to a news agency. Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, stated that her government is prepared to deal with Cyclone Dana.
The movement of trains has also been impacted by Cyclone Dana, as multiple trains have been cancelled. On October 24, the train No. 06087 from Tirunelveli Junction to Shalimar Special, which was supposed to depart Tirunelveli, has been cancelled. Similarly, the train from Bhubaneswar to Rameswaram (Rmanathapuram), Superfast Express scheduled to leave Bhubaneswar on October 25 has been cancelled.
Because of the cyclone that will bring heavy rains to the two adjoining states, the Indian Coast Guard said it was on high alert and had mobilised its ships and planes to react quickly to any emergency.
The next cyclone Dana is expected to affect the whole eastern coast from Puri in Odisha to Sagar Island in West Bengal, according to Mrutunjay Mohapatra, director general of the India Meteorological Department.
Mohan Charan Majhi, the chief minister of Odisha, asked all MLAs to work with the government to organise rescue and relief efforts in the state, which is expected to be hardest hit by the storm.
The vulnerable people can be housed in multipurpose cyclone shelters, flood shelters, and other structures. According to Suresh Pujari, minister of revenue and disaster management, plans have been prepared to provide the individuals who will be evacuated to these shelters with food, drinking water, illumination, sanitary facilities, and medical care.
14 districts, including Angul, Puri, Nayagarh, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, and Mayurbhanj, have been placed on notice by the Odisha government in accordance with the IMD projection.
Due to the approaching storm, all educational establishments, including colleges, universities, and schools, would be closed in 14 districts of Odisha from October 23 to 25.
Mamata Banerjee said that, as a precaution, schools in seven districts in West Bengal will be suspended from October 23 to 26.
Along with coastal regions and nearby districts like Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Jhargram, and Hooghly, the districts in Bengal most likely to be affected by the storm are South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, and Purba Medinipur.
Due to Cyclone Dana, more than 150 express and passenger trains operating within the authority of South Eastern Railway have been cancelled. Howrah-Secunderabad Falaknuma Express, Kamakhya-Yesvantpur AC Express, Howrah-Puri Shatabdi Express, Howrah-Bhubaneswar Shatabdi Express, and Howrah-Yesvantpur Express are among the trains that have been cancelled. There have also been up to 198 trains from Odisha that are travelling through and being cancelled by the East Coast Railways.
The IMD cautioned that along and off the shores of Odisha and West Bengal, wind speeds are expected to reach 60 kilometres per hour (kmph) and then progressively increase, therefore fishermen are advised not to go out to sea between October 23 and 25.
According to Pujari, a list of pregnant women who are anticipated to give birth in two weeks has also been compiled by the government. To prevent any problems during the disaster, all of those women are being moved to the adjacent hospital. “As of now, more than 5,000 relief centres have been set up with modern facilities to provide water, food and milk to children and medicines for injured people. We are expecting around 10 lakh evacuations,” he said.
According to a senior official on Tuesday, the Kolkata airport’s authorities have begun preparing to handle any crisis that may arise from a potential cyclonic storm that could strike coastal regions of West Bengal and Odisha on October 25.
The standard operating procedures such as inspection of the airport infrastructure and the drainage system, checking and servicing of all installations are being carried out, he said.
