Cyclone Yaas: Airports To Shut, Trains Cancelled As Bengal, Odisha Brace For Landfall On Wednesday

Cyclone Yaas intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm on Tuesday evening even as the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand aggressively evacuated over 12 lakh people to storm shelters by late evening.

Kolkata/Bhubaneshwar: In the view of Cyclone Yaas, which has now intensified into 'severe cyclonic storm', West Bengal's Kolkata airport will close operations from 8:30 am on Wednesday till 7:45 pm as the storm is most likely to make a landfall between Dhamra Port and Balasore on the Odisha coast at noon.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone Yaas is expected to hit the eastern coast with wind speed of up to 185 km per hour and will also cross Bengal.

The IMD also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.

"Flight operations at the Kolkatas NSCBI airport here will be suspended from 8.30 am to 7.45 pm owing to the weather warning on Wednesday," the Airports Authority of India said.

Meanwhile, Bhubaneshwars Biju Patnaik International airport too will remain shut from 11 pm Tuesday till 5 am on Thursday. The South Eastern Railways has also cancelled several trains.

Civil aviation operations at Port Blair airport of Andaman and Nicobar Islands was suspended on Tuesday due to the inclement weather conditions unleashed by Cyclone Yaas.

According to Airports Authority of India, the flights operations at Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Jharsuguda and Durgapur airport are likely to be impacted by the cyclone. Besides, Ranchi, Patna, Raipur, Jamshedpur, Bagdogra, Cooch Behar, Vizag and Rajahmundry airports have been instructed to be on alert in case the cyclonic winds change path.

As per West Bengal Chief Minister, the state has done all necessary arrangements to tackle the storm which is expected to effect at least 20 districts. Bengal government has so far evacuated over 11 lakh people and shifted them to safer places.

The Odisha government, on the other hand, said it has moved over 3 lakh people from vulnerable coastal areas to safety.

In Bengal, over 74,000 officers and workers and over 2 lakh policemen and civic volunteers have been deployed to mitigate the natural calamity in West Bengal. Teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) too have been deployed.

In Odisha, four coastal districts of Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Balasore are in the high-risk zone, while the impact of 'Yaas' will also be felt in Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundergarh, Dhenkanal, Angul, and parts of Puri and Khurda districts.

404 rescue teams including 52 from the NDRF, 60 from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), 205 Fire service teams and 86 groups of tree-cutters have been deployed in the vulnerable districts.

Other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Island, Jharkhand and Bihar have also put administration to high vigil and ordered officials to remain alert to deal with the calamity.