BHUBANESWAR: Flights to and from the capitals of India’s eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal, including Kolkata, will be suspended from Thursday evening to Friday morning as the region braces for a cyclone to hit during this period, officials said.
Cyclone Dana, currently over the Bay of Bengal, is expected to cross the states’ coasts from midnight to Friday morning with wind speeds of 100-110 km/h (62-68m/h), with gusts up to 120k/h (75m/h). h), announced the Department of Meteorology.
Both states closed schools in areas expected to bear the brunt of the storm and asked fishermen not to go out to sea.
Television footage showed fishermen rushing to secure their thatched houses and boats with ropes, and officials escorting coastal residents to shelters as strong winds and rain battered parts of Odisha on Thursday.
The Adani group’s Dhamra port in the state’s Bhadrak district has also suspended operations.
“We have evacuated about 50,000 people so far and a total of about 300,000 people are likely to be evacuated,” said special relief commissioner Deoranjan Kumar Singh. Reuters.
The neighboring state of West Bengal has also issued a red alert for three areas close to where the cyclone is expected to make landfall, officials said.
State capital Kolkata remained cloudy on Thursday with brief spells of rain.
Fierce storms hit coastal cities in India and neighboring Bangladesh during the cyclone season from April to December each year, causing widespread damage.
Odisha’s worst cyclone in recent years was in 1999, which raged for 30 hours and killed 10,000 people.
At least 16 people were killed when a cyclone hit India and Bangladesh in May, with winds of up to 135 km/h.
a href=”https://www.geo.tv/latest/570701-flights-suspended-at-indias-kolkata-odisha-state-as-cyclone-approaches”>Source link
