Cyclone Dana uproots trees, snaps power lines on India's east coast

By Jatindra Dash

A "severe cyclonic storm" pounded India's eastern coast on Friday, uprooting trees, snapping power lines and inundating some areas, authorities said, adding that no deaths or injuries were reported.

Cyclone Dana made landfall in Odisha state around midnight with wind speeds of 100-110 kmph (62-68 mph), gusting up to 120 kph (75 mph), but weakened into a cyclonic storm by forenoon, the weather department said.

It is expected to weaken further into a deep depression in the afternoon.

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Odisha had closed schools, suspended flights to and from its capital city of Bhubaneswar until Friday morning, and evacuated more than half a million people in anticipation of the storm.

"We don't have any reports of damage to life or property, only damage to trees. Power in the affected area will be restored by late afternoon," said Dilip Routrai, administrative chief of the region where the cyclone made landfall.

Ports and industries in the state did not sustain any damage, he said.

Paradip port, where work was suspended since Wednesday, had resumed normal operations, a senior port official told Reuters.

By late Friday morning, people in several areas began returning to their homes from shelters.

"We had tied our goats at home before we left for the shelter and returned to find that both they and our house were safe," one resident told a local television channel.

Heavy rainfall also lashed parts of the neighbouring state of West Bengal and, accompanied by a surge in the sea water, left low lying areas inundated, damaging the standing paddy crop that was almost ready for harvest in some fields.

"Winter vegetables also perished in large agricultural tracts because of heavy rains and storm surge of the sea water that entered many areas in the Sunderbans belt," said Bankim Hazra, minister for Sunderban Affairs.

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Flight operations resumed on Friday morning at the airports in Bhubaneswar and the West Bengal capital Kolkata, where too they were suspended since Thursday evening.

Some of the 200 train services that were suspended also resumed operations.

Severe storms pummel the coasts of India and neighbouring Bangladesh during the cyclone season from April to December each year, damaging both life and property.

Odisha saw its worst cyclone in recent years in 1999, which raged for 30 hours and killed 10,000 people.