Cyclone Yaas: 38 passenger trains, five airports cancelled

Kolkata, May 26: In a recent development, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has said that airports in Kolkata and Durgapur in West Bengal and Odisha's Bhubaneswar, Jharsuguda and Rourkela will remain shut for commercial flights as the powerful Cyclone Yass begun landfall between Dhamra and Balasore. "The closure will be reviewed as per the weather. Airports directed to carry restoration to restart operations ASAP," AAI said in a series of tweets.

The authority said that Bhubaneswar's Biju Patnaik International Airport will be closed from 11pm on Tuesday till 5am on Thursday, Jharsuguda airport from 12.01am on Wednesday till 7.45am on Thursday. Durgapur and Rourkela airports will also be closed on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 38 passenger trains are also cancelled till May 29, the Indian Railways said on Tuesday. "38 long-distance South-bound and Kolkata-bound passenger trains will remain cancelled from May 24 to 29...The Railways authority will refund the ticket charges of the passengers," the North East Frontier Railway said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the landfall process of Cyclone Yaas begun near Dhamra port in Odisha at 9.15am.

Speaking to reporters, Odisha's special relief commissioner PK Jena said that the landfall process has begun and will take three to four hours to complete. He said the maximum impact will be in Balasore and Bhadrak districts, adding the location of landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga close to Bahanaga block on the coast.

Jena said the landfall of Cyclone Yaas has been delayed for some hours with the velocity of the system decreasing to 12kmph from 15 to 16kmph. He said the cyclone has not intensified further after 2am.