Kolkata, Oct 24 (IANS): As Cyclone Dana inched closer to West Bengal's coast, the weather office has predicted that East Midnapore and portions of South 24 Parganas districts will be the worst affected in the state.

The cyclone was positioned 370 kilometres away from Sagar Islands in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal and 280 kilometres from Paradeep in Jagatsinghpur district in Odisha.

The cyclone was expected to make landfall between Bhitarkanika of Kendrapara district and the Dhamara area of Bhadrak district in Odisha between Thursday night and early Friday morning.

As per predictions of the Regional Meteorological Office in Kolkata, after the cyclone's landfall, the wind speed in certain pockets of East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas districts was likely to be above 100 kilometres an hour.

The wind speed was also predicted to be higher in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas and Bankura districts. The wind speed in Kolkata was expected to be between 60 and 70 kilometres.

However, the Meteorological Office has said Cyclone Dana's impact will be much less than Cyclone Amphan.

The fishermen have been barred from venturing into deep-sea fishing till Friday.

Educational institutions in the state's nine districts will remain shut till Friday.

According to the Meteorological Office, Cyclone Dana gradually shifted from the east-central position on the Bay of Bengal to the north-western side.

As a precautionary measure, train services have been suspended at both north and south sections of the Sealdah division of Eastern Railways for 14 hours from 8 p.m. on Thursday to 10 a.m. on Friday, with as many as 190 trains in the division being cancelled.

Similarly, 68 local trains in the Howrah division of Eastern Railways have been cancelled. Flight services have been cancelled at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata for 15 hours from Thursday starting from 6 p.m.