Cyclone Dana begins landfall over Bengal, Odisha: India Meteorological Department

"Landfall process has commenced and the forward sector of the wall cloud region is entering into land. The landfall process would continue till today, the 25th October morning," the met office said in its latest post on X.

The India Meteorological Department has forecast that the cyclone will make its final landfall between Bhitarkanika National Park and Dhamra Port and the effect is likely to last till Friday morning.

The Odisha government has displaced 10 lakh people from 3,000 villages across 14 districts and relocated them to relief camps.

Meanwhile, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is present at state secretariat Nabanna to monitor the landfall process overnight and the likely damages the cyclone is expected to cause.

As of Thursday, 243,374 people were evacuated in south Bengal and were taken shelter in relief camps.

"For evacuation from low-lying areas, we have identified 356,941 people," Banerjee told reporters.

Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and home secretary Nandini Chakraborty are also overseeing the evacuation and relief operations.

As a precautionary measure, the East Coast Railway cancelled 198 trains that were scheduled to run from October 23 to 25.

Operations at Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport were suspended from 6 pm on Thursday until 9 am on Friday.

The Bhubaneswar Airport also announced the shutting down of services from 5 pm on October 24 to 9 am on October 25.

Thirteen battalions from the state's disaster management force and 14 battalions from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in the coastal regions.

The Indian Coast Guard has mobilised vessels and aircraft to respond to any distress situations at sea.