More than 1.1 million people on the eastern coast of India are being evacuated to interior storm shelters as part of a huge emergency response, as Cyclone Dana is predicted to make landfall on Thursday as a “severe cyclonic storm.”
With winds of up to 120 kilometers per hour, the strong storm is expected to lash the coasts of the 150 million-person states of West Bengal and Odisha.
Because of the forecasted high winds and heavy rain, major airports, including Kolkata, a major traffic center, will be closed overnight.
Nearly a million people have been evacuated from the coastal parts of Odisha state by authorities, and more than 100,000 people have been relocated to safer areas in neighboring West Bengal. Companies in well-known beach resorts have been told to shut down.
