Cyclone 'Dana' to bring heavy rainfall in Jharkhand, NDRF teams deployed

Parts of Jharkhand could experience heavy to very heavy rainfall from Thursday night under the influence of cyclonic storm 'Dana', a Met Department official said.

An orange' alert has been issued in the Kolhan region (West Singhbhum, Seraikela-Kharswan and East Singhbhum districts) for Friday, he said.

This category of alert indicates heavy rainfall ranging from 115 mm to 204 mm in 24 hours, the official said.

"Apart from heavy rain, the region might also experience thunderstorms and gusty winds with speeds of up to 60 kmph," Ranchi Meteorological Centre in-charge Abhishek Anand said.   

The cyclonic storm is likely to make landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port in Odisha early Friday with wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph), the IMD said.

The weather system lay 280 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha) and 370 km south-southeast of Sagar Island (West Bengal) at 2.30 am, it said in a bulletin.

Six teams of the NDRF have been deployed in Jamshedpur and Chaibasa, while two teams were kept on standby in Ranchi to deal with any emergency situation, another official said.

Several parts of central Jharkhand, including Ranchi, Khunti, Lohardaga, Gumla and Ramgarh, may also experience heavy rainfall on Friday, Anand said.

"Light to moderate rainfall is likely in many parts of the state on Thursday, with forecast of heavy rainfall in the Kolhan division, under the influence of the cyclonic system," he said.

The inclement weather is also likely to impact political activities underway for the upcoming assembly polls in Jharkhand, scheduled to be held in two phases  November 13 and November 20 with the counting of votes on November 23.

The nomination process for the first phase started from October 18 and will conclude on October 25, while the same for the second phase began on October 22 and will continue till October 29.