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By Jatindra Dash
BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - A severe cyclonic storm is set to pummel the coasts of India and Bangladesh on Thursday, spurring authorities to cancel train services, warn fishermen to stay home and begin evacuating thousands of people from vulnerable sites.
Cyclone Dana, now over the Bay of Bengal, is expected to strengthen, packing wind gusts of up to 120 kph (74 mph), and make landfall late on Thursday on India's east coast and the south coast of Bangladesh, Indian weather officials said.
Rains and strong winds are already lashing parts of India's coastal state of Odisha, which is prone to cyclones, witnesses and officials said.
"We have started evacuating people from vulnerable areas," said administrative official Dilip Routrai in the state's district of Bhadrak, which is likely to be hit.
The state cancelled more than 200 train services, shut schools until Friday and told fishermen not to go to sea.
Its largest port of Paradip was suspending operations from Wednesday night, a senior official said, while ships at anchor were moving to safe positions at sea.
Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall expected over the next three days could damage homes, roads, crops, and power lines, while bringing flooding and landslides, weather officials said.
Weather officials in neighbouring Bangladesh also warned fishermen and put southern ports on alert.
India's West Bengal state, which shares a border with Bangladesh, has readied disaster relief teams equipped with tree cutting machinery, officials said.
During India's cyclone season from April to December, severe storms slam coastal cities, causing extensive damage in both countries.
A super cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999 raged for 30 hours and killed 10,000, but the state has beefed up disaster preparedness since, reducing damage and casualties.
(Reporting Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar, Subrata Nag Choudhary in Kolkata and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Clarence Fernandez)
