As the low pressure belt over the Bay of Bengal was intensifying into a severe cyclonic storm with a possibility of hurtling straight towards north-western Bay, the Bengal Government on Tuesday issued Red and Orange alerts for a number of districts in the southern part of the State.
Though the weather office predicted that the cyclonic storm Dana could make a landfall somewhere between Bhadrak --- Paradeep to be specific --- and Sagar Islands the State the Government was not leaving anything to chances sources said.
“The cyclonic storm is likely to hit the coastal areas in the intervening hours of Thursday midnight and Friday morning … in view of that the Bengal Government has issued a high alert in the coastal districts of North and South 24 Parganas and two Midnapores,” a senior official at Nabanna said adding all the schools and educational institutions in the coastal districts will remain closed.
“Most likely it may make a landfall around Balasore or Paradeep,” IMD sources said adding exact location of the area could be given much later. “As the cyclone is moving in anti-clockwise manner the areas on right side of its path like the sea beaches of Digha, Mandarmani of Bengal could be affected,” sources said.
“We are taking maximum precautions so that no life lost and other damages are kept to the minimum,” sources quoting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said adding several thousand people have been evacuated from the coastal areas, and banks of the tidal rivers to the safer areas.
A number of embankments particularly those in Namkhana area of Sunderbans have been reinforced so that the tidal rivers do not breach them, said Bankim Hajra State minister in charge of Sunderbans.
The Indian Maetorogical Department in its latest bulletin said that the well marked low pressure area over the Bay of Bengal had concentrated into a deep depression and was positioned around 700 km south east of Sagar Islands. There could be heavy rains and wind lashes in southern districts like North and South 24 Parhanas, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata, two Midnapores, Bankura, Nadia and even Burdwan.
As the wind speed could be between 100 and 110 km per hour with a gust of around 120 kmph all those who leave in “kuccha houses” and near the coast have been asked to vacate the area, Bengal Ministers Firhad Hakim said adding the police and the disaster relief force had been put on high alert and the tourists in sea beaches of Digha, Bakkhali, Mausani Islands had been asked to return home.
A control room had been opened at State secretariat Nabanna, an official said.
