Bhubaneswar, October 24: So far, 3 lakh people have been evacuated in the State, said Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi after chairing a high-level meeting on the preparedness to tackle the cyclonic storm Dana which will make landfall between Bhitarakanika and Dhamara at midnight today.
“Total 3.62 lakh people will be evacuated. Till now, 3 lakh people have already been evacuated. There are 7,285 cyclone shelters,” said CM Majhi.
Similarly, 2338 pregnant women have been shifted to nearby hospitals in order to avoid any difficulty during the cyclonic storm, said Majhi.
He said, “Total 1,653 villages, 9 civic bodies in 38 blocks in 11 districts are likely to affected due to the cyclone Dana.”
Similarly, 19 NDRF teams, 51 ODRAF teams, 220 Fire Service teams and 180 platoons of police force have been deployed in vulnerable places to tackle the situation. State Government is fully prepared deal with any eventuality, added the CM.
Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, DGP YB Khurania, SRC Deoranjam Kumar Singh, Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre Director Manorama Mohanty attended the meeting and briefed the Chief Minister about the preparedness.
Meanwhile, the latest IMD bulletin stated that, “The 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 1130 hrs IST of today, about 180 km southeast of Paradip, 210 km south-southeast of Dhamara and 270 km south of Sagar Island.”
“It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and cross north Odisha & West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island close to Bhitarkanika and Dhamara 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,” it added.
