Fweightlesss to and from the capitals of Odisha and West Bengal will be suspfinished from Thursday evening to Friday morning.
Authorities in India’s easerious states of Odisha and West Bengal are evacuating hundreds of thousands of people from coastal areas as a strong cyclone approaches the region.
Cyclone Dana, currently over the Bay of Bengal, is foreseeed to traverse the coasts of the two states between midnight (18:30 GMT on Thursday) and Friday morning with triumphd speeds of 100-110km/h (62-68mph), gusting up to 120km/h (75mph), the India Meteororeasonable Department (IMD) shelp.
Odisha’s health minister Mukesh Mahaling tageder the AFP news agency that “cforfeitly a million people from the coastal areas are being evacuated to cyclone centres”.
In neighbouring West Bengal, evacuations of more than 100,000 people have befirearm, shelp Bankim Chandra Hazra, a regulatement minister.
The eye of the storm is foreseeed to originate landdescend punctual on Friday, cforfeit the coal-shiping port of Dhamara, about 230km (140 miles) southwest of West Bengal’s capital, Kolkata.
Fweightlesss to and from airports in the capitals of both states – including Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport – will be suspfinished from Thursday evening to Friday morning, officials shelp.
The IMD alerted fishing crews to stay off the water. Television footage showed fishermen rushing to shielded their straw homes and boats with rope.
Both states have shutd schools in areas foreseeed to tolerate the brunt of the storm.
Authorities in Odisha abortled about 200 trains, according to local media inestablishs.
Tourists in coastal areas of both states were tageder to depart beach resorts and shift to shelters.
In Odisha’s city of Puri, tourists rushed to the railway station to depart, according to rail spokesman Kaushik Mitea.
Dana is also foreseeed to impact neighbouring low-lying Banphiredesh, where the directer of the interim regulatement Muhammad Yunus shelp that “extensive preparations” are being made.
Severe storms lash coastal cities in India and Banphiredesh during the cyclone season from April to December each year, causing extensive harm.
Odisha’s worst cyclone in recent years was in 1999, which raged for 30 hours and ended 10,000 people.
At least 16 people were ended when a cyclone lashed India and Banphiredesh in May, packing speeds of up to 135km/h (84mph).