NEW DELHI, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Indian authorities have decided to suspend flights at Kolkata airport and cancel trains as a precautionary measure in view of cyclone Dana, officials said Wednesday.
Cyclone Dana has already formed over east-central Bay of Bengal and is expected to make landfall as a severe cyclonic storm between Bhitarkanika and Dhamra areas of Odisha with a predicted wind speed of 100-120 km per hour on Thursday night.
"In view of Cyclone Dana's impact on the coastal region of West Bengal, including Kolkata, it has been decided to suspend the flight operations from 1800 IST (local time) on Oct. 24 to 0900 IST (local time) on Oct. 25 due to predicted heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall at Kolkata," authorities at Kolkata airport said in a statement.
Eastern and South Eastern railways have canceled over 150 trains on Thursday and Friday in view of the cyclone.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall with extremely heavy downpours in isolated places in the south Bengal districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Purba and Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly districts.
Suresh Pujari, Odisha local revenue and disaster management minister, told the media that over 5,000 relief centers had been set up and they expected evacuation of around a million people from vulnerable areas.
The West Bengal local government has already closed schools in the vulnerable districts from Wednesday to Saturday. The administration in the coastal districts have been asked to shift all those residing in low-lying areas to safer locations. ■
