The Indian Meteorological Department recently issued a cyclone warning for residents of the northwest and central parts of the Bay of Bengal. The “severe cyclonic storm”, named Cyclone Dana is currently moving northwest at 12 kmph and has caused heavy rainfall in parts of Odisha and West Bengal.
Cyclone Dana, which might hit landfall tonight is currently hovering over the east-central Bay of Bengal and is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm between the Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra port.
The storm, which is expected to generate wind speeds of anywhere between 100-110 kmph and gusts at 120kmph is categorised as a tropical storm. For those wondering, tropical cyclones are considered some of Earth’s most devastating storms.
How to track Cyclone Dana live?
While the Indian Meteorological Department alerts people who might be affected by the cyclone hours prior to impact, it does not have a real-time cyclone tracker. However, there are some third-party services like Windy that shows the estimated path of the cyclone along with how severe it will be on its way. Another service that is tracking Cyclone Dana is Zoom Earth, which shows the trajectory of the storm along with wind speeds.
What is the IMD saying?
According to the department, Cyclone Dana will severely impact Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts in Odisha, with wind velocity expected to reach 100-120 kmph. As for West Bengal, the department expects to see very heavy rainfall in Purba, Paschim Medinipur, Jhargam, Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly and North and South 24 Parganas.
As of now, 20 NDRF teams, 51 ODRAF teams, 200 fire services teams and 158 platoons of police have been deployed to assist the local administrations in relief and rescue operations in Odisha. The state’s Chief Minister Mohan Majhi also said that evacuation will be completed in the next few hours and that as many as 7285 cyclone shelters have been already prepared to accommodate evacuated people.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
