GUWAHATI: Odisha and West Bengal are preparing for the landfall of Cyclone Dana, which formed over the east-central Bay of Bengal on Wednesday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts that the storm will intensify into a severe cyclonic storm and is expected to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early on Friday.
IMD forecasts heavy rainfall across several districts of southern West Bengal, including Kolkata. Districts like North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Howrah, Hooghly, and Kolkata are expected to experience heavy to very heavy rain on Thursday and Friday.
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Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea, as wind speeds are expected to reach 120 km/h from the night of October 24 until the morning of October 25. In response to the storm, over 170 express and passenger trains under South Eastern Railway's (SER) jurisdiction have been cancelled.
EMU local train services between Sealdah and Hasnabad will also be suspended from 8 PM on October 24 until 10 AM on October 25, with the last trains from Hasnabad and Namkhana departing by 7 PM on October 24. Eastern Railway has additionally cancelled 68 suburban trains in its Howrah division on October 25.
Flight operations at Kolkata's airport will be suspended for 15 hours, starting at 6 PM on Thursday, due to the cyclone's expected impact. Ferry services in the Sunderbans and across the River Hooghly have also been halted.
In preparation for potential emergencies, 13 teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed across southern Bengal. In Odisha, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced that over 30% of the targeted 1 million people had already been evacuated to safer locations by Wednesday evening.
Authorities continue to monitor the situation closely as both states brace for the cyclone's impact.