Bhubaneswar, Oct 24: Several districts in Odisha, particularly the coastal areas, experienced heavy rain and squally winds on Thursday with the sea condition remaining rough, as severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ approached closer to the state’s coast, informed the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

According to the IMD, the highest rainfall of 60 mm was recorded at Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, followed by Chandbali (Bhadrak) 50 mm, Chandanpur (Mayurbhanj) 30mm, Nawana (Mayurbhanj) 30mm, Kujanga (Jagatsinghpur) 30 mm, Rajkanika (Kendrapara) 30mm, Rajnagar (Kendrapara) 20mm, Nilgiri (Balasore) 20 mm this morning.

Meanwhile, the weathermen issued a red warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall over Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Balasore, and Mayurbhanj districts for the next 24 hours.

Orange weather warning has been issued for the Puri, Khordha, Keonjhar, Nayagarh and Dhenkanal districts while yellow alert has been issued for Ganjam, Boudh, Angul, Deogarh, Sabalpur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and Kandhamal districts.

The cyclone is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), it said.

Director of the Regional Meteorological Centre, Bhubaneswar, Manorama Mohanty said: “The severe cyclonic storm is likely to re-curve slightly towards west and west-southwards after landfall, triggering rain in southern Odisha around October 26. However, the landfall and wind speed predictions remain unchanged.”

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi conducted a review meeting this afternoon and instructed officials to achieve “zero casualties” during the natural disaster.

CM Majhi said that around 300,000 people have been relocated to various cyclone shelters, and the operation is ongoing.

A total of 7,285 cyclone centres have been established, and 91 medical teams have been deployed in view of the impeding cyclonic storm, officials said.

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