Bhubaneshwar/Kolkata: Cyclone Dana, classified as a “severe cyclonic storm”, battered India’s eastern coast on Friday, causing widespread disruption by uprooting trees, snapping power lines, and inundating several areas. Fortunately, authorities reported no fatalities or injuries linked to the storm.
Making landfall in Odisha state around midnight, Cyclone Dana brought wind speeds ranging from 100 to 110 km/h (62 to 68 mph), with gusts reaching up to 120 km/h (75 mph). The weather department forecasts that the cyclone is likely to weaken into a regular cyclonic storm by the forenoon.
In preparation for the storm, Odisha authorities took precautionary measures, including closing schools, suspending flights to and from the capital city of Bhubaneswar until Friday morning, and evacuating over half a million residents.
“We don’t have any reports of damage to life or property, only damage to trees. Power in the affected area will be restored by late afternoon,” stated Dilip Routrai, the administrative chief of the region where the cyclone made landfall.
Heavy rainfall also impacted parts of the neighboring state of West Bengal, where a surge in seawater inundated low-lying areas, damaging standing paddy crops that were nearly ready for harvest in some fields. Bankim Hazra, the minister for Sunderban Affairs, noted, “Winter vegetables also perished in large agricultural tracts because of heavy rains and storm surge of the seawater that entered many areas in the Sunderbans belt.”
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Flight operations resumed on Friday morning at airports in both Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, West Bengal’s capital, after being suspended since Thursday evening.
Cyclone season, which spans from April to December each year, often brings severe storms to the coasts of India and neighboring Bangladesh, inflicting damage on both life and property. Odisha’s history with cyclones includes one of its worst disasters in 1999, when a storm raged for 30 hours and claimed around 10,000 lives.
