East coast braces for cyclone as low pressure strengthens into depression over Bay of Bengal

    Bhubaneswar/Kolkata, Oct 22 (PTI) A well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression on Tuesday as it rolled towards the eastern coast with the likelihood of turning into a severe cyclonic storm, the IMD said.
    India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said Odisha will bear the brunt of the impending cyclone.
    The IMD in its latest bulletin said the well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal concentrated into a depression and lay centred at 700 km away from Paradip in Odisha and 750 km from Sagar Island in West Bengal around 8.30 am.
    The depression will further intensify into a cyclonic storm by October 23 and cross north Odisha and southern West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island in the early morning hours of October 25 as a severe cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph, it said.
    The state government sought 10 more additional teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
    “The existing NDRF teams are already on the move to the possible affected districts,” Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said.
    This apart, 17 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) teams will be deployed in 10 districts which are likely to be affected by cyclone Dana, Additional Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Padmanav Behera said.
    Three other ODRAF teams will be kept on standby.
    Advising fishermen not to venture into the sea from October 23 to 25, the IMD warned that wind speed is likely to reach 60 kilometres per hour (kmph) along and off Odisha-West Bengal coasts and gradually increase after that.
    The storm is likely to bring very heavy rainfall in southern West Bengal districts on October 24 and 25, the IMD said adding that the impending cyclone will bring heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy downpours at one or two places in the districts of South 24 Parganas, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur and Jhargram.
    Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, Purulia and Bankura districts between October 24 and 25, it said.
    A deep depression is a more intense stage of a low-pressure system and typically precedes the formation of a cyclonic storm, according to the IMD.
    IMD DG Mrutunjay Mohapatra told a local news channel that the entire eastern coast from Puri and West Bengal coast is likely to be impacted in the impending cyclone.
    North Odisha districts are also likely to be more affected than other areas, IMD DG said.
    Mohapatra said the exact place of landfall of the cyclone would be known later.
    The Odisha government has cancelled the leaves of all staff from October 23 to 25 in view of the cyclone forecast.

    Special Relief Commissioner DK Singh asked the School and Mass Education department to close schools in 14 likely affected districts from October 23 to 25 as a precautionary measure.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)