Bhubaneswar: The Director-General of India Meteorological Department Mrutyunjay Mohapatra has informed that the Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Yaas has made landfall on Odisha coast between north of Dhamra and south of Balasore at around 9 am today.
The landfall process has begun and will continue for 3 to 4 hours . The wind speed of the cyclone continues to remain between 130 to 140 kmph gusting up to 150 kmph, informed Mohapatra.
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Odisha Special Relief Commissioner took to Twitter and informed that the landfall of the cyclone has begun close to Remuna-Bahanaga Sadar block coast. The maximum impact of the cyclone to being felt in Bhadrak and Balasore districts.
North and north coastal districts and several adjoining regions have experienced widespread rainfall in the last 24 hours. Kusumi area of Mayurbhanj has recorded the highest of 304 mm of rainfall followed by Chandbali with 288 mm, Rajnagar area in Kendrapara 277 mm and Ersama in Jagatsinghpur with 271 mm of rainfall during the period. A total of 36 places have reported 110 to 304 mm of rainfall while 37 blocks in the State have witnessed 50 to 100 mm of rainfall, the SRC informed during a presser.
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Due to heavy rainfall and high storm surge, several coastal regions have experienced sea ingression especially in the right wing of the cyclone where velocity of the winds is also higher.
The cyclonic system is expected to continue its landfall and cross the coastline through Balasore by afternoon today. The districts of Balasore, Bhadrak and Kendrapara will bear the brunt of the storm for some more hours. Thereafter, it will move towards Mayurbhanj where it is likely to cause heavy rainfall and strong winds from the afternoon. Its impact will dissipate towards midnight today after the system crosses the State into Jharkhand.
SRC has further informed that a total of 5.80 lakh people have been evacuated from several coastal and north coastal districts of the State as a precautionary measure in the wake of Cyclone Yaas.
A maximum of 1.52 lakh people have been moved to safer places in Balasore while in Bharak, around 1.2 lakh people have been evacuated. Similarly, around a lakh have been shifted in Kendrapara while over 60000 people have been evacuated in Mayurbhanj.