The coastal belt of Odisha experienced heavy rain and squally winds on Thursday morning with the sea condition remaining rough, as severe cyclonic storm ‘Dana’ approached closer to the state’s coast, the IMD said.

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.

The weather system over the Bay of Bengal moved north-northwestwards with a speed of 12 kmph during past the six hours, and lay centred about 260 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 290 km south-southeast of Dhamra (Odisha) and 350 km south of Sagar Island (West Bengal) at 5.30 am.

“It is very likely to move northwestwards and cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island close to Bhitarkanika and Dhamra during midnight of 24th to morning of 25th October as a severe cyclonic storm with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting to 120 kmph,” it said in the latest bulletin.

The highest rainfall of 62 mm was recorded at Paradip, while Rajnagar in Kendrapara district received 24 mm rain, in the last four hours, the Met Department said.

Moderate to intense rain and thunderstorms with wind speeds of 30-40 kmph are likely to lash some parts of Bhadrak, Balasore, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada and Puri districts during the day, 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.” Meanwhile, roads in some areas of Balasore, Bhadrak, Bhitarkania and Puri were blocked, after trees were uprooted due to strong winds, officials said.

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