Bhubaneswar: Flight operations will remain suspended at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here from 5 pm on October 24 till 9 am on October 25 as a precautionary measure, informed Airport Director Prasanna Pradhan. No flights will be arriving and departing from the airport on the said dates and timings. Passengers are requested to stay back and cooperate with the authorities, he stated.
Earlier in the evening, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi convened a meeting with all top officials of the government to assess the situation and readiness ahead of Dana landfall. "You are in safe hands," said the CM. Also present in the meeting were Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari and Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling.
"The Health Department is on alert. Directions have been given to all CDMOs, and their leave has been cancelled. Measures have also been put in place to address issues related to snake venom. The Chief Minister is personally overseeing the situation," Mahaling assured.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) DIG Mohsen Shahidi said teams have been mobilised to different destinations in Odisha and West Bengal with all readiness. Now the focus is on safe evacuation before the landfall.
"Our teams are placed at 20 spots in Odisha, 13 in West Bengal, while four additional teams are in reserve. We are trying to complete shifting of people to safe shelters as soon as possible," he said.
Earlier in the day, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, DG, IMD, confirmed that Cyclone Dana is set to make landfall between Bhitarkanika in Kendrapada and Dhamra in Bhadrak district between October 24 midnight and the early hours of October 25. The severe cyclonic storm is currently located approximately 400 km southeast of Paradip in the east-central Bay of Bengal, and is advancing in a north-northwest direction at a speed of 15 km per hour. The cyclone landfall process is expected to be of five hours during which all the 14 districts on the coast and periphery will witness extremely heavy to moderate rainfall accompanied by wind speed of 110 km gusting up to 120km/h, he had informed.
