The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held a high level meeting to take stock of the relief operations following the cyclone Vardah’s landfall in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Rajnath, after review, expressed his satisfaction about the preparedness of the Central and State agencies in handling the cyclone, which resulted in minimal casualties. He ordered that the Inter-Ministerial Central team be kept ready to be sent to Tamil Nadu immediately on receipt of the Memorandum from the State Government.
The Deputy General of the NDRF said that eight teams of NDRF consisting of 268 rescuers, along with 29 boats, had been deployed in Tamil Nadu. “NDRF teams are removing road blockage. Three more teams of NDRF consisting of 108 rescuers along with 15 boats have also been sent to Chennai,” he said. Six teams of NDRF consisting of 205 rescuers along with 20 boats have been deployed in Andhra Pradesh, he added.
Status report
As per status report at 10 am, in Tamil Nadu, a total of 297 relief centers have been opened and 104 are currently in operation. 13,578 people have been evacuated to shelters and 16 human losses have been reported. 55 hut were reported damaged, 9,154 trees reported fallen, 5,200 electrical poles and 71 transformers reported damaged, and out of 312 road blocked 152 have been cleared.
In Andhra Pradesh, total og 59 relief centers are in operation. 10,960 people have been evacuated from vulnerable/low lying areas. Two people were reported dead in Chittoor, while 391 villages were affected. 602 electrical poles were reported fallen and12 trees had been uprooted. All uprooted trees have been cleared and lifting of poles is in progress, the report said.
As per IMD bulletin issued in on Tuesday morning, the deep depression over north Tamil Nadu moved further west-southwestwards during past six hrs with a speed of 20 kmph. It further weakened into a depression and lay centered at 0530 hours on Tuesday morning, over north interior Tamil Nadu near Latitude 12.5ºN and Longitude 78.0ºE, about 50 km west of Tiruppattur and 40 km north of Dharmapuri.
The system is very likely to continue to move west-sothwestwards and weaken gradually into a well marked low pressure area during the next six hours, report said.
The meeting was attended by Union Home Secretary Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, Member Secretary, NDMA, DG, NDRF and senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
