Cyclone Yaas: Heavy rainfs in Odisha, coastal Bengal flooded

The very severe cyclone Yaas made landfall at around 9 am on Wednesday near the Dhamra port in Odisha’s Bhadrak district.

According to the IMD, the system is currently crossing the coast south of Balasore and the landfall process will take about two hours to complete.

Follow live updates on Cyclone Yaas here

The landfall took place north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga block, around 50 kms from Balasore with wind speed of 130 to 140 kmph gusting up to 155kmph.

Odisha’s Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena said that Balasore and Bhadrak districts will bear the brunt of the storm. He said that so far there has not been any major damage in the State apart from some trees getting uprooted.

“Landfall process has begun, will take 3-4 hours to complete. Maximum impact will be in Balasore and Bhadrak districts. Wind speed will be about 100kmph in Mayurbhanj dist also . Pray to God to help people of the state.@CMO_Odisha @IPR_Odisha @osdmaodisha @SRC_Odisha @SecyChief,” he tweeted.

Jena also said that around 5.80 lakh people have been evacuated to shelters. He said that the landfall process was a bit delayed as the speed of the system came down to 12 kmph from 15 kmph.

According to the Regional Meteorological Centre in Bhubaneswar, several areas of Odisha received heavy rains. The Chandbali area in Bhadrak district received 273 mm rainfall, which is the highest in the last 24 hours in Odisha. It was followed by Paradip which received 197 mm of rainfall and Balasore (51) and Bhubanaswar (49).

As for West Bengal, several embankments were breached in the state due to rising water level in coastal areas. The districts of East Medinipur and South 24 Paraganas faced severe storm surge inundating many areas.

"Fifty one river embankments have been breached in East Medinipur district. We have already evacuated 1.5 lakh people from the coastal town of Digha in the district. Around 20,000 houses in the State have been damaged so far," said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier in the day.

The coastal town of Digha in East Medinipur district recorded maximum wind speed of 90 kmph, followed by Fraserganj in South 24 Paraganas districts with wind speed of about 68 kmph. Kolkata recorded wind speed of 62 kmph.