Cyclone Dana hit the coast of Odisha in eastern India on Friday morning, bringing heavy rain and strong wind to parts of the state and neighbouring West Bengal, where one man died.
Dana – which means pearl in Arabic – had been brewing over the Bay of Bengal for the past few days. It became a “severe cyclonic storm” as it made landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamara Port in Odisha with a wind speed of around 110kph and extremely heavy rain.
Dana caused floods along parts of the Odisha coast after triggering a surge in sea levels of up to 1.15 metres. The Indian Meteorological Department said it would gradually weaken into a cyclonic storm by Friday afternoon.
More than half a million people in Odisha were moved from vulnerable areas to evacuation shelters, chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi said. An estimated one million people had been expected to be evacuated. However, officials revised estimates after realising the cyclone would be much weaker than originally feared.
Mr Majhi said no casualties had been reported in the state and that the preparations and evacuations of vulnerable people would minimise the storm's impact. “Almost 600,000 people have been shifted to safer places, including 6,000 pregnant women moved to health centres,” Mr Manjhi said on Friday. Around 1,600 women gave birth on Friday, according to the state government.
As heavy rain pounded coastal areas of Odisha, one man was reported dead in neighbouring West Bengal. About 250,000 people were moved to safer places in the state, West Bengal's chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, as she reported the death.
“The man died at his residence while conducting some cable-related work. It is quite unfortunate. The post-mortem examination will give us a clear picture,” Ms Banerjee said.
Several areas are likely to get flash floods due to heavy rainfall and there are reports of uprooted trees and electricity poles.
“We are dealing with the initial impact of Cyclone Dana. Trees have fallen from Puri Balasore, Jagatsinghpur to Mayurbhanj areas,” Odisha’s Fire and Emergency Services said. It is working to clear the roads.
Flights that had been suspended at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in West Bengal and Bhubaneswar Biju Patnaik Airport in Odisha due to the cyclone, resumed on Friday morning.
Odisha lies off the Bay of Bengal sea and has a 480km-long sandy coastline. Home to 47 million people, the state has been hit by 10 cyclones, including super cyclones that have killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. In 1999, the region was devastated by the Great Odisha Cyclone, in which 10,000 people died.
