Cyclone Dana | Airports resume ops after landfall; IMD's flash flood warning for Odisha

IndiGo’s flight on the Kolkata-Imphal route was the first flight to depart from the state capital, he said. The first flight to land in Kolkata was of Vistara. It landed here around 8.45 am from Delhi, the AAI spokesperson said.

In a tweet, Kolkata airport said, "Flight operations resumed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata at 08:00 hrs, after it was closed for flight operation yesterday in view of the cyclone Dana."

Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar also resumed its operations with the first flight landing around 9 am, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi told reporters.

The airport operation was suspended from 5 pm on October 24 in view of Cyclone Dana which made landfall between Dhamra and Bhitarkanika around midnight.

Though the airport authorities had decided to suspend services till 9 am on Friday, the operations resumed a bit early as the weather conditions improved, Airport Director Prasanna Pradhan said.

Train services resume

Meanwhile, train services on the south section of the Sealdah Division under the Eastern Railway also resumed at 10 am after scheduled cancellations due to the cyclone.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR), in a statement, said trains started running as per schedule, barring those cancelled earlier in its jurisdiction.

The ECoR cancelled around 203 trains as a precautionary measure for the cyclone Dana.

Also read: People scurry for cover in Odisha's Kendrapara as Cyclone Dana barrels towards coast

Trains coming from Visakhapatnam, Howrah and Kharagpur to Bhubaneswar have started running, an ECoR official said.

The railway authorities informed that trains scheduled to originate from Bhubaneswar and Puri will commence their journey after noon on Friday, except the notified cancelled trains.

Woman dies at cyclone shelter

An elderly woman died at a cyclone shelter in Odisha's Kendrapara district, officials said on Friday.

The 82-year-old woman identified as Hemalata Nayak of Bankual village died on Thursday night of suspected cardiac arrest at a cyclone shelter set up at Kalyan Mandap Dangamal under Dangamal gram panchayat under Rajnagar block of Kendrapara district, they said.

The woman was shifted to the cyclone shelter earlier on Thursday. "The woman died of cardiac arrest and not related to cyclone related incident," Block Development Officer (BDO) of Rajnagar block, Nishant Mishra said. The BDO said that the government was making arrangements for cremation of her body at Swargadwar in Puri as per the wishes of her family.

In another incident, one person identified as Tapan Patra(40) was admitted to Baliapal Hospital in Balasore district after being seriously injured when a coconut tree fell on his house on Friday morning, police said.

NDRF starts restoration work

The NDRF and ODRAF teams on Friday started restoration work by removing uprooted trees from the roads in the coastal districts of Odisha even as the landfall process of severe cyclonic storm Dana is still going on, an official said.

The IMD said at 8.23 am that the “landfall process continues and the rear sector of the cyclone is entering into the land. The landfall process would continue for the next 1-2 hours. The system is likely to move nearly northwestwards across the north Odisha and weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm by the forenoon of October 25.” The system is under continuous surveillance of the Doppler radar at Paradip.

Heavy rainfall in Bengal

Earlier, heavy rains packed with gusty winds lashed parts of southern West Bengal as the landfall process of the severe Cyclone Dana continued to tear through the Odisha coast since midnight.

Large parts of Kolkata faced severe waterlogging during the morning hours of Friday as cyclone Dana brought torrential rain in its aftermath, inundating areas across the city.

According to the regional Met office in Alipore, Kolkata received over 100 mm of rainfall till 11.30 am on Friday over the previous 24 hours.

Knee-deep water at several thoroughfares in south and central parts of the city hampered traffic movement in Bhawanipur, New Market, Hazra, Dharmatala, and Behala areas.

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Reports of waterlogging were also received from Thanthania Kalibari, Mahatma Gandhi Road, VIP Road, Park Circus, Dum Dum and parts of New Town in the northern and eastern parts of the city.

‘Zero casualty’ in Odisha

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday claimed that the state has achieved its "Zero Casualty Mission" as there has been no report regarding any loss of human life or injury in the severe cyclonic storm Dana which made landfall in the coast on Thursday night.

Majhi who reviewed the cyclone situation here in the morning announced that there has been no human casualty in the cyclone.

"There is no report of any death of any human life. Our zero casualty Mission has been successful with cooperation of everyone," Majhi announced.

Rains lash parts of Jharkhand

Rain lashed parts of Jharkhand on Friday under the influence of cyclonic storm Dana, a Met Department official said.

The Kolhan region of Jharkhand comprising West Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharswan and East Singhbhum districts witnessed spells of light to moderate rainfall since Thursday night, while other parts of the state are experiencing cloudy weather coupled with intermittent drizzle.

Kendrapara escapes largely unscathed

People in Odisha's Kendrapara district, which was on the path of cyclone Dana, heaved a sigh of relief as the severe cyclonic storm largely spared the coastal district on Friday.

While there is no report of loss of life and property, tidal surges made inroads into some of the villages and agriculture fields have come to light, officials said.

"No loss of life has been reported so far. The loss of property has been minimal. We are hopeful of restoring normalcy shortly," said Kendrapara Collector, Smruti Ranjan Pradhan.

(With agency inputs)