Cyclone ‘Dana’ makes landfall near Odisha coast; Bengal evacuates over 1 lakh people

MP, 25 Oct 2024, Kolkata: The landfall of Cyclone ‘Dana’ commenced late on Thursday evening, with the storm anticipated to make landfall southwest of Dhamra Port, near Bhitarkanika National Park, between late Thursday night and the early hours of Friday morning. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remained at Nabanna overnight, overseeing the situation from the control room at the state secretariat. 

From there, she sought updates on the cyclone and its speed from weather expert GC Debnath. According to IMD, wind speeds during landfall are expected to reach 120 km/h, and heavy rainfall and storm surges will accompany the cyclone. Weather experts indicated that Bengal may largely avoid severe devastation from the cyclone, as the storm system has shifted westward. 

The cyclone remained around 180 km away from Sagar island, 80 km from Dhamra and 60 km from Paradip a little before Thursday midnight, IMD said. It also informed that the cyclone moved at a speed of 13 kmph in the past 3 hours over northwest Bay-of-Bengal.
Earlier in the day Banerjee stated that 1,59,837 people in the state were successfully evacuated and sheltered in different camps ahead of the landfall of Cyclone Dana.
The cyclone is likely to affect nine districts with maximum effect in the coastal districts of East Midnapore, South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas. Other districts such as Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura are also likely to be impacted. Wind speed may touch 100 kmph at the time of landfall. Sunderbans may also be affected. 

Kolkata, around 250 km away from the possible landfall point and close to the edge of the cyclonic system, is set to record strong winds in the range of 60 to 70 km, gusting up to 80 km per hour. There will also be heavy to very heavy rain in a few places. Several districts in south Bengal experienced moderate to heavy rainfall since Thursday morning as cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ moved closer to the coasts of both the state and neighbouring Odisha. 

Addressing a press conference on Thursday late afternoon, Chief Minister Banerjee said the administration has identified 356941 people living in different low-lying areas or kacha houses. They would be evacuated as a precautionary measure. 

Till 4 pm on Thursday, 1,59,837 were shifted to camps set up by the concerned district administration. About 851 camps were set up where initially 83,537 people took shelter. 

“More will be evacuated before the weather conditions turn hostile. Don’t be afraid and do not panic. I will urge all to cooperate with the police in the evacuation process. To save your own lives, please abide by the state government notification regarding the disaster. 

Don’t pay heed to false information,” she said. Banerjee added that all precautionary measures are in place. Schools have been closed in the nine districts since Wednesday. She said a disaster management team will be stationed at Nabanna while officials were asked to stay back till the landfall was over. 

The chief secretary and home secretary were asked to monitor the situation. 

Several people were shifted to cyclone shelters across the state and in school buildings. The helpline numbers in Nabanna and districts are active round the clock. “For tonight (Thursday night), we have directed setting up a district and block-wise official monitoring mechanism. The helpline number of Nabanna will work 24x7,” Banerjee said.

The helpline numbers are: (033)22143526 and 1070. Banerjee lashed out at the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for releasing a huge volume of water. “We have faced a flood situation due to indiscriminate water release from DVC before the Puja. 

Yesterday (Wednesday) they released 24000 cusecs of water. They have made it a practice of releasing water as if Bengal is a reservoir for storing water. Had they done proper dredging, the holding capacity of the dam could have increased by 4 lakh cusecs,” she claimed. 

She highlighted that desilting work undertaken in Kolkata for the last few years has contributed to quicker drainage of stagnant water after a spell of heavy rainfall. The IMD issued red, yellow and orange alerts for several districts of Bengal. 

Red alert has been issued for East Midnapore, West Midnapore, South 24-Parganas while orange alert has been issued for Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24-Parganas and Jhargram. Yellow alert has been issued for the rest districts of South Bengal. 

Flight operations at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata suspended from 6 pm on Thursday to 9 am on Friday due to predicted heavy winds and heavy rainfall. More than 150 express and passenger trains have been cancelled by the South Eastern Railway division. The East Coast Railways also cancelled as many as 198 trains.
The Eastern Railways also cancelled several express trains. Power minister Aroop Biswas on Friday held a video conference with the district power department officials from the control room in Vidyut Bhawan instructing them to take all preventive measures. 

The minister will remain stationed at the control room overnight to monitor the situation. The city’s Mayor also monitored the situation from the KMC’s control room. As per the IMD, a tropical cyclone is said to have made a landfall when the centre of the storm – or its eye – moves over the coast. 

Experts said that a landfall should not be confused with a ‘direct hit’, which refers to a situation where the core of high winds (or eyewall) comes ashore but the centre of the storm may remain offshore. 

As per the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), because the strongest winds in a tropical cyclone are not located precisely at the centre, it is possible for a cyclone’s strongest winds to be experienced over land even if landfall does not occur. 

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