Over 4,54,800 people to be affected by Cyclone DANA in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Severe Cyclonic storm “DANA” over northwest Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 13 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centred at 5.30 PM over the same region, near latitude 19.8° N and longitude 87.5°E, about 100 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 130 km south-southeast of Dhamara (Odisha) and 210 km south of Sagar Island (West Bengal).

It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island close to Bhitarkanika and Dhamara (Odisha) during mid-night of 24th to morning of 25th October, 2024 as a severe Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting 120 kmph.

Under the influence of the cyclonic storm, 11 districts Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Khurda, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Cuttack and Dhenkanal will be affected.

Meanwhile, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari informed that over 4,54,800 people of 2,633 villages of 64 blocks and 64 wards of 13 urban areas are expected to be affected by the cyclone.

While speaking to the media persons, Pujari said, “As of now, about 4,17,626 people have been evacuated and kept at cyclone shelters and given cooked food. So far 7824 shelters have been opened while 529 of them have been operationalized.”

“So far, 862 quintals of flattened rice and 97 quintals of jaggery have been distributed while 3654 pregnant women have been shifted to nearby health centers for safe delivery. More than 500 domestic animals have been affected by the continuous rainfall.  Till date, 213 medical teams and 120 veterinary teams have been deployed,” he added.

The Minister further said, “As many as 385 rescue teams including 19 NDRF, 51 ODRAF, 95 OFDC and 220 fire services men have been deployed in the areas which are expected to be affected by the cyclone.”