Mamata Monitors Cyclone Dana Impact in Bengal

Kolkata: Though Cyclone Dana is expected to spare West Bengal by and large from its onslaught, chief minister Mamata Banerjee decided to spend Thursday night at state secretariat Nabanna to monitor the situation. She said in the afternoon, “I will stay in Nabanna tonight until the landfall of Cyclone Dana."

The CM later informed that over 3.5 lakh people were identified for evacuation from low-lying areas of the state. Sharing details she said that 2,43,374 people have taken shelter in various relief camps.

At the Kolkata Airport, operation of 309 flights were affected between 6 pm on October 24 and 9 am on October 25. Among them were 149 domestic departures and 132 domestic arrivals. On the international section, 14 were departures and 14 were arrivals.

Meanwhile, a bomb hoax for 11 domestic flights triggered panic at the airport. According to sources, seven were IndiGo aircrafts, one each from Spicejet and Akasha, two were from Alliance Air.

During the day, union minister of state for shipping and ports Shantanu Thakur held a review meeting with Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMPK) top brass to assess the preventive, precautionary and curative measures to tackle the impact of cyclone at the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) and Haldia Dock Complex (HDC).

The steps include dedicated control rooms at KDS and HDC from 2 pm on October 23 until 10 pm on October 25, suspension of shipping and port operations from October 24, securing vessels by getting them moored at anchorages or jetties and additional moorings that have been applied to ships inside the docks, while all barges, including Bangladeshi barges, have been advised to anchor securely outside the shipping channel.

Besides, the booms of cranes will be lowered before the storm's onset and container stacking within the docks has been limited to two tiers to minimize risks.