With Cyclone ‘Yaas’ likely to become ‘very severe cyclonic storm' by May 25 and expected to cross the coasts of West Bengal and north Odisha by May 26 evening, 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.
“PM Modi also instructed all concerned departments to ensure timely evacuation of those involved in off-shore activities. He spoke about the need to ensure that time duration of outages of power supply and communication network are minimum and are restored swiftly,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement after a review meeting to oversee the preparedness with senior officials of States and Central Ministries and agencies concerned.
Stating that Mr. Modi also asked officials to ensure proper co-ordination and planning with State governments to ensure no disruptions in COVID treatment and vaccination in hospitals, the statement said that he also spoke about the need to involve district administrations in the process of planning and preparedness for better learning from best practices and seamless co-ordination.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone ‘Yaas’ is expected to cross West Bengal and north Odisha coasts by May 26 evening with the wind speed ranging 155- 165 kmph gusting to 185 kmph. “It is likely to cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of West Bengal and north Odisha. IMD has also warned of storm surge of about 2- 4m in costal areas of West Bengal and Odisha,” the statement said.
It is very likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm by May 24 and further into a very severe cyclonic storm by May 25, IMD said on social media. That would make it as powerful as Tauktae which hit the Western Coast last week.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which is reviewing the situation round the clock has already released first installment of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) in advance to all States, the PMO said.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has pre-positioned 46 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters and telecom equipment in five States and Union Territories. In addition, 13 teams are being airlifted today for deployment and has kept 10 teams on standby.
Navy and Coast Guard have deployed ships and helicopters for relief, search and rescue operations. Indian Air Force and Engineer task force units of Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment. Seven ships with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HARD) units are on standby along western coast.
Several concerned Ministries have also taken preventive measures as well as put in place measures to deal with post cyclone situation, the statement said. Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has taken measures to secure all oil installations in the sea and to bring back their shipping vessels to safe harbour while Ministry of Power has activated emergency response systems and is keeping in readiness transformers, generator sets and equipment for immediate restoration of electricity, the statement said.
Ministry of Port, Shipping and Waterways has taken measures to secure all shipping vessels and has deployed emergency vessels (Tugs), the statement added. NDRF is assisting State agencies in their preparedness for evacuating people from the vulnerable locations.
