The NDRF and ODRAF teams on Friday started restoration work by removing uprooted trees from the roads in the coastal districts of Odisha even as the landfall process of severe cyclonic storm Dana is still going on, an official said.Odisha Higher Education minister Suryabanshi Suraj, who is in charge of Bhadrak district, said there was no report of any casualty in the district.”There is no report of any casualty. There has been massive damage to electrical installations due to tree falling. Roads are being cleared,” the minister said The NDRF and ODRAF teams started work despite gusty winds and heavy rainfall in Dhamra area of Bhadrak district.The Tehsildar of Rajnagar in Kendrapada district, Ajay Mohanty, said that there has been no major damage in the Bhitarkanika area except uprooting of some trees and damage to some thatched houses.”The wind speed has substantially come down to 80 to 90 kmph, but the rain continues to lash the area,” Mohanty said, adding that seawater has entered into some water bodies and low-lying areas during the tidal surge on Thursday night. Chandabali in Bhadrak received the highest rainfall of 131.6 mm during the last six hours, followed by 42.8 mm in Balasore, an official said.Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi was reviewing the cyclone situation at the office of the Special Relief Commissioner.The coastal districts of Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Balasore and nearby Jagatsinghpur district witnessed a sudden increase in wind speed which reached 100 kmph to 110 kmph and extremely heavy rain during the landfall process.Over 2.5 lakh 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.
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