IMD issues red alert for four coastal dists in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Wednesday asked the district administrations to get ready to tackle the impact of a possible cyclone and decided to pre-deploy relief and rescue personnel from Friday after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted the storm may reach closer to the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast around Saturday morning, triggering extremely heavy rainfall.
The IMD has issued red warning of extremely heavy rainfall in four districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, and Jagatsinghpur on Saturday and orange warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall in seven districts of Kendrapada, Cuttack, Khurda, Nayagarh, Kandhamal, Rayagada and Koraput. The four districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, and Jagatsinghpur may also receive heavy rainfall on Friday, the IMD said.
Following a meeting chaired by chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, special relief commissioner P K Jena said 108 teams of Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 200 teams of fire services will be deployed after the IMD predicts the cyclone path.
The government handed an eight-point checklist to the collectors which include getting ready with plans to evacuate people at short notice and 24-hour control rooms at the district level.