Cyclone Dana: Heavy rain in Odisha, Bengal as landfall approaches, flights hit

Heavy rain lashed parts of Odisha and West Bengal on Thursday as authorities in the two states were racing against time to evacuate lakhs from several coastal districts before cyclone Dana’s expected landfall tonight.
According to the India Meterological Department (IMD), cyclone Dana, which has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds likely to reach up to 120 kmph, is threatening to impact nearly half of Odisha’s population, with Bengal expected to witness extremely heavy to very heavy rain today and tomorrow.
In its latest update, the IMD said the cyclone lay 210 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 240 km south-southeast of Dhamara (Odisha) and 310 km south of Sagar Island (West Bengal) as of 8.30 am today. The landfall is expected to take place between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra port, both in Odisha.
On Thursday and Friday, Bengal’s districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly, will receive extremely heavy to very heavy rain.
While the Kolkata airport will suspend flight operations from 6 pm on Thursday to 9 am tomorrow, the Bhubaneswar airport will suspend its operations from 5 pm today to 9 am on Friday. Nearly 200 trains have been cancelled running through the two neighbouring states in the wake of the cyclone.
In Odisha, about 3 lakh people were evacuated by Wednesday evening, while West Bengal has shifted over 1.14 lakh people to shelters.