Cyclone Yaas Makes Landfall In Odisha With Wind Speed Of 130-140 Kmph: What We Know So Far

The landfall process of Cyclone Yaas began at 9 am on Wednesday near the Dhamra port in Odisha's Bhadrak district.

The location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, close to Bahanaga block, on the coast, around 50 km of Balasore.

AP

The wind speed during landfall was at 130-140 kmph, gusting to 155 kmph, as per Doppler radar data.

Landfall process to take 3-4 hours

"The landfall process has begun and will take three-four hours to complete. The maximum impact will be in Balasore and Bhadrak districts," Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena said.

Around 5.80 lakh people have been shifted to safe shelters, he said.

BCCL

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) earlier predicted that the wind speed during the landfall would be around 155-165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph.

The landfall process was delayed for some hours with the system's velocity decreasing to 12 kmph from 15-16 kmph, Jena said.

The cyclone did not intensify any further after 2 am, he said.

"Since there has been a fall in intensification, the wind speed was around 130-140 kmph at the time of landfall instead of 165 kmph," he said.

Reuters

There was no report of any major damage though some incidents of trees getting uprooted have taken place, he added.

In neighbouring West Bengal too, the effects of the cyclone are being felt. The "very severe cyclone" will cross Odisha to West Bengal by noon.

Mass evacuations in West Bengal

Coastal areas in East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas were inundated owing to storm surge and several embankments, including 51 in East Midnapore, have been breached as the water level in the rivers in the coastal areas rose.

Several low-lying areas in South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore were inundated owing to high tidal waves.

According to local officials, over 155,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas in Odisha and nearly 810,000 people have evacuated from low-lying areas in West Bengal.

AFP

Some residents forced to evacuate in West Bengal are still trying to rebuild after Cyclone Amphan, the most powerful storm in more than a decade to hit eastern India, made landfall in the Indian state last year.

Due to the cyclone, the Kolkata Port has suspended all shipping movements on Tuesday and the Kolkata International Airport suspended all operations throughout the day Wednesday, and the Northeast Frontier Railway canceled all southbound- and Kolkata-bound passenger trains through Saturday.

AFP

Second cyclone

Yaas is the second cyclone to hit India in less than two weeks.

Cyclone Tauktae killed at least 140 people across western states last week. Nearly 70 victims were on a barge that ripped free of its anchors in the storm and sank off Mumbai's coast.