Officials said that flights to and from the capitals of India’s eastern state of Odisha, West Bengal, and Kolkata will be suspended between Thursday evening and Friday morning, as the region prepares for a cyclone expected to hit the area during this time.
The weather department stated that Cyclone “Dana”, currently over the Bay of Bengal is expected to pass the coasts of these states between midnight and early Friday morning, with wind speeds of up to 120 kph.
Both states have closed their schools in the areas expected to bear the brunt and asked that fishermen refrain from venturing out to sea.
On Thursday, as rain and strong winds pounded Odisha, television footage showed fishermen rushing with ropes to secure their straw boats and homes. Officials also escorted residents to shelters in coastal areas. Adani group’s Dhamra in the state’s Bhadrak area has also suspended operations.
Residents in some parts of Japan were given evacuation orders on Friday as Typhoon Ampil (a Category 4) approached Tokyo, causing service disruptions and power outages. The typhoon caused transportation services to be closed due to its winds of 131 mph.
Authorities warned citizens to prioritize safety, especially those in vulnerable groups, as strong winds and heavy rain hit coastal areas.
Reuters reported that Special Relief Commissioner Deoranjan Kumar Singh said:
“We’ve evacuated about 50,000 people, and we expect to evacuate around 300,000.”
Officials in West Bengal have also issued red alerts for three districts that are located near the area of landfall. The capital city of the state, Kolkata, remained overcast with brief rain showers on Thursday.
During the cyclone season, which runs from April to Decembre each year in India and Bangladesh, powerful storms lash coastal areas of both countries causing extensive damages. Odisha’s most recent cyclone was the 1999 storm that raged for over 30 hours and killed more than 10,000 people. In May, a cyclone with speeds up to 135 km/h slammed India and Bangladesh.
