Over 2.5 lakh people evacuated in BengalMeanwhile, heavy rains packed with gusty winds lashed parts of southern West Bengal amid the landfall process.In various parts of Mandarmani in Purba Medinipur and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas, waterlogging has been reported, compounding the misery of the affected residents.The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, but initial reports suggested the storm brought heavy rains, which continued into Friday morning, causing inundation in low-lying areas.The state administration evacuated over 2.5 lakh people till Thursday evening in anticipation of the severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana.’ Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the state had identified more than 3.5 lakh people for evacuation from low-lying areas. Banerjee, along with senior officials, camped at the state secretariat overnight to monitor the situation.Thirteen battalions from the state’s disaster management force and 14 battalions from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in the coastal regions, officials said.Operations at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport were suspended from 6 PM on Thursday until 9 AM on Friday due to expected high winds and heavy rain.South Eastern Railway (SER), which oversees routes in West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand, has cancelled more than 170 express and passenger trains scheduled between October 23 and 27.Additionally, Eastern Railway cancelled 68 suburban trains in the Howrah division for Friday morning, while all EMU local trains from Sealdah station were suspended from Thursday evening till Friday morning.Kolkata Port authorities also halted ship movements until Friday evening as a precautionary measure.Rainfall intensified in the early morning hours across the affected districts, including Kolkata, which experienced moderate-to-heavy rainfall, along with hailstorms, since Thursday night.”Rainfall is ongoing in the impacted regions, and the warning will remain in place until Friday,” the Met official stated.Power Minister Aroop Biswas said that while there has been significant rainfall and strong winds, a detailed damage assessment will be available by the evening, with an initial report expected by 11 am.The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has mobilised teams to clear uprooted trees from city streets as part of their disaster response efforts.The authorities remain on high alert as the impact of the cyclone continues to unfold across the region.Rain lashes parts of JharkhandSimilarly, rain lashed parts of Jharkhand on Friday under the influence of cyclonic storm Dana, a Met Department official said.The Kolhan region of Jharkhand comprising West Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharswan and East Singhbhum districts witnessed spells of light to moderate rainfall since Thursday night, while other parts of the state are experiencing cloudy weather coupled with intermittent drizzle.”The impact of the system seems to have weakened over Jharkhand. One or two districts of Kolhan region may experience heavy to very heavy rainfall on Friday, while some districts of central Jharkhand, including Ranchi, might witness moderate rainfall,” Ranchi Meteorological Centre in-charge Abhishek Anand told PTI.He said that the rain intensity would further decline on Saturday.The Meteorological Department on Thursday had issued an ‘orange’ alert for the Kolhan region for Friday.In view of the inclement weather, the Jharkhand School Education and Literacy Development Department said on Thursday that all schools would be closed on Friday in the Kolhan division.”All categories of government, non-government, aided, unaided and private schools, from kindergarten to class 12, operating in West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum and Saraikela-Kharswan districts under Kolhan division will remain closed on October 25 in light of the alert issued by the Meteorological Center, Ranchi, regarding heavy rainfall and strong winds under the influence of cyclonic storm Dana,” a notice issued by the department said.Six teams of the NDRF were also deployed in Jamshedpur and Chaibasa, while two teams were kept on standby in Ranchi to deal with any emergency situation.
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