The West Bengal government recently stated that schools in nine districts will be closed from October 23 to October 26 owing to Cyclonic Storm Dana. These districts are: South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Bankura, Hooghly, Howrah, and Kolkata.
Cyclone Dana is likely to grow into a strong cyclonic storm and make landfall between late October 24 and early October 25. The storm is likely to hit India’s eastern coast, with Odisha and West Bengal taking the brunt of the damage. According to the Indian Ocean Dynamics (IMD), “The depression over the Bay of Bengal will intensify into a cyclonic storm by October 23 and cross the Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island on October 25 as a severe storm with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph.”
In preparation for Cyclone Dana, the Odisha government has ordered a three-day school closure in 14 districts, including Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, and Cuttack. Deoranjan Kumar Singh, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), announced the closures in a letter to district collectors.
The Odisha government has also urged that extra teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) be deployed in the impacted areas, in addition to those already in place.
Suresh Pujari, Odisha’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister, stated that “the existing NDRF teams are on the move to possible affected districts.”
Additional Special Relief Commissioner Padmanav Behera announced that 17 Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) teams will be deployed in the ten districts most likely to be affected by the storm, with three additional ODRAF teams on standby. On October 24 and 25, significant to very heavy rainfall is forecast in numerous districts across West Bengal, including Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Paschim Medinipur, and Jhargram. The IMD has warned fishermen to avoid the water between October 23 and 25, as winds around the Odisha-West Bengal coasts are predicted to reach 60 kmph and rise as the storm approaches.
Cyclone Dana is the second large cyclonic storm to slam the Indian coast in two months, after Cyclone Asna in August. Qatar submitted the name “Dana” to the tropical cyclone naming system overseen by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The Arabic word “Dana” denotes “generosity” or “bounty.” The WMO naming system attempts to raise public awareness and improve communication about these storms across borders.