Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday chaired a high level meeting to review the preparedness of State and Central Ministries/Agencies, which are tasked to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone Vayu.
During the meeting, Shah directed senior officers to remain on alert and take all necessary measures to ensure that people are evacuated safely. The home minister also told the senior officers to ensure that all control rooms are functioning round-the-clock. Indian Coast Guard, Navy, Army & Air Force units are put on standby and surveillance aircraft and helicopters are pressed into service to carry out aerial surveillance. The meeting was attended by Home Secretary, Secretary Ministry of Earth Sciences, and senior officers of IMD and MHA.
Ministry of Home Affairs is in continuous touch with the concerned State Governments/UT and the Central Agencies. National Disaster Response Force has already pre-positioned 26 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipments etc to tackle the situation. The NDRF is also set to send 10 more teams to Gujarat.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), Cyclone ‘Vayu’ is expected to touch Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva around Veraval & Diu region as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with wind speed 110-120 kmph gusting to 135 kmph on Thursday morning. It is expected that Cyclone Vayu would cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Gujarat. The storm surge of height of about 1.0- 1.5 m above the astronomical tides is expected to inundate the low lying coastal areas of Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Junagarh, Diu, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts at the time of landfall.
Cyclone VAYU was positioned 630 kilometres south-southwest of Mumbai at 11.30 pm on Monday night and was moving in a northwards direction. The IMD said that the intensity of Vayu is expected to increase as it makes its way towards Gujarat’s coast.
Source: Zee News