Videos | Cyclone Dana landfall continues in Odisha; heavy rainfall, gusty wind lash Bhadrak district

Severe cyclonic storm Dana made landfall in Odisha on Thursday night as heavy rain and gusty winds lashed the coastal districts of Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore and Jagatsinghpur. The five-hour-long landfall is likely to continue till Friday morning.

As per the IMD update that came around 6 am on Friday, the rear sector of the cyclone is entering the land. The cyclone is currently centred over north coastal Odisha about 20 km north-northwest of Dhamra in Bhadrak and 40 km north-northwest of Habalikhati nature camp in Bhitarkanika. "The landfall process would continue for the next 1-2 hours. It is likely to move nearly west-northwestwards across North Odisha and weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm by Friday forenoon," the update read.

Strong winds at a speed of 10-110 kmph gusting up to 120 kmph lashed the coastal districts, uprooting trees in Bhadrak's Vansaba region. "The system is under continuous surveillance of the Doppler weather radar at Paradip," the IMD alert said.

The severe cyclonic storm will gradually weaken on Friday and move deeper in the state, triggering heavy rains in most places. IMD Odisha director Manorama Mohanty said the cyclone is now about 15 km north of Dhamra and 30 km northwest of Bhitarkanika. "The current intensity is a severe cyclonic storm and wind speed is to 100-110 km/hr. It will continue for the next 1-2 hours and is likely to move west-north westward across North Odisha and weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm," she added.

The IMD has predicted light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsingpur Keonjhar, Jajpur, Cuttack and Dhenkanal, Khurda and Puri districts.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said around 5.84 lakh people have been evacuated till now to shelters.

Flight, bus services hit

The landfall of Cyclone Dana affected flight operations at Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar, and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata. However, the airport authorities at Bhubaneswar later revised plans and announced flight operations would resume services at 8:00 am instead of 9:00 am.

The bus services at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bus Terminal at Baramunda in Bhubaneswar were also affected. People can be seen moving around the bus terminal awaiting transport services to resume.