Heavy rains accompanied by gusty winds Friday battered coastal areas of the eastern Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal under the impact of severe cyclonic storm Dana.
Dana made landfall around midnight between Odisha's Bhitarkanika in the Kendrapara district and Dhamra in Bhadrak. With wind speed of 100-110 kmph, the cyclone uprooted trees and snapped power lines in several areas of Odisha and West Bengal. The cyclone impacted normal lives in the affected areas by disrupting some civic services and damaging crops.
However, no casualties have been reported so far.
More than 150 trains are cancelled due to the onset of Cyclone Dana, Kolkata, India, October 24, 2024. /CFP
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the landfall process has been completed.
"The landfall process has completed. It is likely to move northwestwards across north Odisha and weaken gradually into a deep depression during the next six hours. The system is under continuous surveillance of the doppler weather radar at Paradip," IMD said.
Officials said the services at Bhubaneswar and Kolkata airports, which were suspended on Thursday evening as part of precautionary measures, resumed Friday morning.
The local governments in both states have evacuated nearly a million people, shut schools and canceled more than 400 trains ahead of the cyclone.
In the vulnerable districts of both states, authorities deployed teams of National Disaster Response Force along with local disaster management personnel, police, medical teams and fire services personnel to assist the local population.
(Cover: Waves overflow onto a damaged sea front before Cyclone Dana in Digha, West Bengal, India, on October 24, 2024. /CFP)