Bhubaneswar | The Odisha government was evacuating people from vulnerable places amid light rains in eight southern districts where a "red alert" has been issued as the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal on Monday intensified into cyclonic storm 'Montha'.
Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said officials, local people's representatives, Anganwadi workers, ASHA didis and others are convincing the people living in vulnerable areas to shift to safer places.
The evacuation drive is going on with priority on pregnant women, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and the process will be completed by 5 pm on Monday, much before the intensity of rain and wind increases, the minister said.
Noting that some people are reluctant to shift to relief centres, the minister said police will guard their houses when they take shelter in cyclone centres. He said all arrangements have been made at cyclone shelters, including food, medicine, lighting for people, and care is also being taken for domestic animals.
Pujari said, so far 128 rescue teams (over 5,000 personnel) of NDRF, ODRAF, Odisha Fire Service and others have already taken position in eight vulnerable districts, Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kalahandi and Kandhamal.
He said that 'red warning' (take action), predicting extremely heavy rainfall and strong winds (gusting up to 80 kmph), was issued for these eight districts.
The minister said that the priority of the government is to ensure "zero casualty" and arrangements have been made to minimise damage by taking advance measures. He said special attention is being given to the hilly areas, particularly in Gajapati, Koraput and Malkangiri districts, where there is a possibility of landslides.
Pujari said that though rainfall has started on Monday, the intensity of rain and wind will intensify on October 28 and 29 as forecast by the IMD.
He said that the reports of pre-cyclone light rains came from the districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Nabarangpur, Gajapati and Ganjam due to the impact of cyclone 'Montha' that has started moving towards the east coast at a speed of 18 kmph.
Montha means fragrant flower or beautiful flower in Thai language.
The system is located at 600 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 750 km south of Gopalpur (Odisha), he said.
The minister pointed out that it is good for the state as the cyclone speed has reached 18 kmph against Sunday's rate of movement of only 6 kmph. "When the cyclone moves at speed, it reaches the coast early and therefore fails to gather energy in the sea. Therefore, we hope that the expected damages will be less," he said.
All the districts of the state have been put on alert and directed to get ready with men and machinery for rescue operations, if at all the impending cyclone changes its trajectory.
The minister further said that the state government is in touch with the Indian Coast Guard and may hire their chopper if there is a requirement. "Our Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) D K Singh is in touch with the ICG," he said, adding that some fishing vessels of Andhra Pradesh have been shifted to Odisha waters, keeping in view the rough sea conditions there.
The SRC said all the schools and Anganwadi centres are closed in the eight southern districts till October 30 in the wake of the impending calamity. He said power backup has also been made in all critical institutions like hospitals and drinking water supply units.
"The power distribution company has been asked to restore electricity within 24 hours of the cyclone crossing the districts," the SRC said.
The weather office also hoisted Distant Cautionary Signal No-I (DC-1) at all ports of Odisha and advised fishermen not to venture into the sea till October 29.
The IMD on its bulletin at 1.45 pm of Monday said: "The cyclonic storm 'Montha' over Southwest & adjoining areas of Bay of Bengal moved with a speed of 18 kmph during past 6 hours and lay centered at 0830 hours of Monday at about 570 km of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 600 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 750 km south of Gopalpur (Odisha)." The system is likely to move north-northwestwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by the morning of October 28, the IMD said.
"Continuing to move further north-northwestwards, it is very likely to cross Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam around Kakinada during the evening/night of 28th October as a severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmp," the statement said.
