Cyclone Yaas makes landfall in India's Odisha

Very severe cyclone Yaas today made landfall near Dhamra port in eastern Indian state Odisha's Bhadrak district, the Indian Met Department said.

The process of landfall would continue for three-four hours, it said, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

One person died and another was injured in separate incidents in first reported casualties related to Cyclone Yaas.

A tree uprooted by strong wind in Keonjhar district of Odisha fell on an elderly man and killed him. In Balasore town, a 20-year-old man was wounded as a tree fell on him at Railway Colony.

Meanwhile, airports in Kolkata would remain shut till 7:45pm today and in Bhubaneshwar till 5am tomorrow as a precautionary measure due to the cyclone.

Kolkata has been experiencing medium intensity intermittent rains since last night and this morning but coastal areas of Odisha is being buffeted by strong squally wind and heavy rains since early this morning.

Odisha's Dhamra port and adjoining Balasore, which is 150 km south of Kolkata, is being pounded by winds up to 140 km per hour and gusting up to 155 km per hour, our New Delhi correspondent reports.

A total of nearly 13 lakh people have been evacuated—ten lakhs in Bengal and three lakhs in Odisha—from vulnerable coastal areas of the two states.

India Meteorological Department said the windspeed of Yaas may weaken from earlier projected speed of maximum 185 km per hour to 155 km per hour. Windspeeds will fall to between 65 and 75 km per hour by the evening.

Visuals from Bengal's Purba Medinipur showed powerful waves lashing the coastal areas.

Odisha's Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore districts are likely to be most badly affected. In Bengal, West Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas districts, and Kolkata may experience stormy weather with wind speeds of up to 120 km per hour.