Cyclone Dana surged toward the Bengal-Odisha coast on Wednesday, with landfall expected between Bhitarkanika and Dhamara in northern Odisha, approxim

Cyclone Dana is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), IMD said. Track all updates here.

Cyclone Dana is expected to hammer the low-lying regions of West Bengal and Odisha, home to around 150 million people, as a “severe cyclonic storm” late on Thursday or Friday morning, India’s weather bureau said. At least 1.1 million people on India’s eastern coast were fleeing to storm shelters inland, just hours before the storm’s arrival.

Odisha and West Bengal are evacuating around 12 lakh people ahead of severe cyclonic storm Dana, which is approaching the coast. Officials have expedited evacuations and set up cyclone centers, aiming for zero casualties amid heavy rainfall and rough.

Cyclone Dana is expected to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port on Oct 25. Catch all the latest news updates on Cyclone Dana here

In view of the impact of Cyclone Dana, the Kolkata airport authorities decided to suspend flight operations for 15 hours from 6 pm on Thursday.

Landfall is likely in Odisha tonight as several districts have been put on high alert. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said over 30% of the targeted 10 lakh people had been evacuated to safe places by Wednesday evening.

Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar airport authorities have decided to suspend flight operations for 15 hours from 6 pm on Thursday owing to the cyclone. For more inputs, follow news18.com