Bhubaneswar: Authorities of the Biju Patnaik International Airport have decided to suspend operations for some hours on October 24 and 25 in view of the impending Cyclone Dana.

Director of the BPIA, Prasanna Pradhan informed the operations at BPIA will remain suspended from 5 PM on October 24 till 9 AM on October 25. As many as 40 flights will be suspended during this period.

Further decision on the flight operations at the Biju Patnaik International Airport will be taken after assessing the situation, Pradhan added. He advised flight passengers to check the flight status before leaving for the airport.

Operations at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport, Kolkata in the neighbouring state West Bengal will also remain suspended for several hours on October 24 and 25.

Authorities of the Kolkata Airport have decided to suspend the operations from 6 PM on October 24 to 9 AM on October 25 keeping in view the IMD prediction of heavy winds and heavy to very heavy rainfall at Kolkata under the influence of Cyclone Dana.

The cyclonic storm over Eastcentral and adjoining westcentral Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a speed of 12 kmph during past six hours and lay centred at 1730 hrs IST of today over the same region about 420 km southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 450 km south-southeast of Dhamara (Odisha) and 500 km south-southeast of Sagar Island (West Bengal).

It is very likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm over central and adjoining northwest Bay of Bengal by early morning of October 24 and cross north Odisha and West Bengal coasts between Puri and Sagar Island close to Bhitarkanika and Dhamara (Odisha) during mid-night of October 24 to morning of October 25 as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with a wind speed of 100-110 kmph gusting 120 kmph, the IMD forcasted.