Bhubaneswar: The cyclonic storm Dana has moved northwestwards with a speed of 12 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centred at about 460 km southeast of Paradip, 490 km south-southeast of Dhamara and 540 km south-southeast of Sagar Island (West Bengal), IMD said.
The cyclone is very likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over northwest Bay of Bengal by tomorrow early morning and cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island close to Bhitarkanika and Dhamara (Odisha) during tomorrow night and Friday morning as a severe Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting 120 kmph, the IMD said in its latest bulletin.
During the landfall, a tidal surge of up to 2 metres is expected, with the cyclone reaching the coast at a wind velocity of 120 kmph, said Umashankar Das, senior IMD scientist.
Low-lying areas in Kendrapara, Bhadrak, and Balasore districts are likely to be inundated and recommended that the government evacuate residents from these regions, he said.
To facilitate this, 288 rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), and Fire Services have been deployed, with additional personnel requested from the NDRF.
The government has identified 14 districts at risk, with the coastal areas facing high winds and inland regions expected to receive heavy to extremely heavy rainfall.
The districts are Angul, Puri, Nayagarh, Khordha, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, and Mayurbhanj.
The IMD cautioned that Cyclone ‘Dana’ would bring significant rainfall to the state, predicting light to moderate rain at most locations, with heavy rainfall (7-11 cm) in isolated areas over Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, and Khordha starting in the evening of October 23.
On October 24 and 25, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected in several places, with isolated areas receiving extremely heavy rainfall (over 21 cm) in districts including Balasore, Mayurbhanj, and Jajpur, it added.
The IMD has prohibited all marine activities, including fishing, in the Bay of Bengal until the cyclone has passed.
Meanwhile, parts of Kendrapara and Bhadrak districts in Odisha experienced rain and adverse weather conditions on Wednesday afternoon with the Indian Meteorological Centre (IMD) saying that the outer bands of Cyclone Dana’ has begun to affect the eastern coastline.