Odisha, Bengal brace for cyclone Yass, landfall around noon

Cyclone Yaas has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and will make landfall between Dhamra Port and Balasore on the Odisha coast around noon today. The storm is likely to bring wind speed of upto 185 km per hour.

Around 3 million people in Odisha and half a million people in Bengal have been evacuated from their homes.

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

Flight operations at the Kolkata airport will be suspended from 8:30 am to 7:45 pm.

The NDRF has deployed a record 115 teams across five states and one Union Territory.
The army has deployed 17 columns in Bengal, nine of them have been stationed in Kolkata.