PM Reviews Cyclone ‘Yaas’, Directs Officers to Ensure Timely Evacuation of Those Involved in Off-shore Activities

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a high level meeting today to review the preparedness of States and Central Ministries/Agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone ‘Yaas’.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) informed that Cyclone ‘Yaas’ is expected to cross West Bengal and north Odisha coasts by 26th May 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 & Odisha. IMD has been issuing regular bulletins with latest forecast to all the concerned states.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is reviewing the situation 24*7 and is in touch with the State Governments/ UTs and the Central Agencies concerned. MHA has already released first instalment of SDRF in advance to all States. NDRF has pre-positioned 46 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipments etc. in 5 States/ UT.

In addition, 13 teams are being airlifted today for deployment and has kept 10 teams on standby.

Ministry of Power has activated emergency response systems and is keeping in readiness transformers, DG sets and equipments etc. for immediate restoration of electricity. Ministry of Telecom is keeping all the telecom towers and exchanges under constant watch and is fully geared to restore telecom network.

PM Modi directed senior officers to work in close co-ordination with states to ensure safe evacuation of people from high-risk areas. He 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.

PM also asked officials to ensure proper co-ordination and planning with state governments to ensure no disruptions in Covid treatment and vaccination in hospitals. 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. PM directed officials that advisories and instructions on do’s and dont’s during the cyclone be made available in easy to understand and local language to citizens of the affected districts.