The depression over east-central Bay of Bengal is very likely to move in a north-northwest direction and intensify into a cyclonic storm. The system Yaas is expected to cross the coast in north Odisha-West Bengal between Paradip and the Sagar islands by the evening of May 26 as a very severe cyclonic storm.
Officials at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata on Sunday issued warnings that squally winds of 40-50 kmph gusting to 60 kmph are very likely to prevail over North Bay of Bengal and along and off Odisha–West Bengal–Bangladesh coasts from the evening of May 24.
“It would gradually increase further becoming 90-100 gusting to 110 kmph from 26th morning and increase thereafter becoming 155-165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph at the time of landfall till 26th afternoon,“ a special bulletin issued by IMD late on Sunday evening said
PM review
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday directed senior officers to work in close co-ordination with States to ensure safe evacuation of people from high-risk areas .
“The Prime Minister instructed all concerned departments to ensure timely evacuation of those involved in off-shore activities,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement after a review meeting to oversee the preparedness with senior officials .
The weather office has issued an orange warning of extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places over Jhargram, Medinipur, North & south 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata in West Bengal and Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore in Odisha.
Heavy to very heavy rainfall is predicted at a few places over Nadia, Bardhaman, Bankura, Purulia, Bhirbhum and heavy falls at isolated places over Murshidabad, Malda and Dakshin Dinajpur Districts on May 26.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has airlifted 950 NDRF personnel and 70 tonnes of load from Jamnagar, Varanasi, Patna and Arakonnam to Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Port Blair in 15 transport aircraft, the Defence Ministry said. IAF has also kept 16 transport aircraft and 26 helicopters on standby.
Navy and Coast Guard have deployed ships and helicopters for relief, search and rescue operations while Engineer task force units of Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment.
Navy has also pre-positioned diving and flood relief columns at Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Chilika to aid the civil administration at short notice.
Kolkata gears up
Chastened by the experience of cyclone Amphan which battered West Bengal almost exactly a year ago on May 20, killing more than 100 people and disrupting normal life in Kolkata for almost a week, the Kolkata Police convened a joint co-ordination meeting with representatives of the Civil Defence, Army, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and National Disaster Response Force to gear up for cyclone Yaas.
“It was decided that a unified command centre will be set up at Kolkata Police Headquarters on and from May 24, 2021 along with the representatives of all nodal agencies. All preventive measures have been taken to minimize the sufferings of public,” a statement from Kolkata Police said. Several teams of NDRF and State Disaster Management Force has been posted in low lying areas of the State. Fishermen are advised not to venture in the sea from May 23.
Coastal Odisha alert
Keeping the predicted path in mind, Odisha’s Special Relief Commissioner P. K. Jena rushed to Balasore to fine-tune preparedness. With the districts of Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak and Balasore likely to be impacted most by the Yaas, district administrations have been asked to make evacuation process foolproof and ensure zero casualty.
North Odisha district Mayurbhanj and coastal Cuttack may experience heavy precipitation under influence of the cyclone. Cyclone could cause uprooting of big trees and extensive damage to Kutcha houses. The northern region of Odisha will record very heavy rain on May 26.
Earlier, Odisha government had wanted deployment of 22 units National Disaster Response Force and now it sought additional 10 units. NDRF sources said units could be air-lifted for faster deployment. Odisha has kept 66 units of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force in readiness for imminent natural disaster.
