The police on Thursday revisited the logistics of last year’s flood relief and rescue operations to prepare for the worst-case scenario even as senior officers said there was no immediate cause for large-scale evacuations.
Officers privy to a contingency meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said they had posted lookouts near rivers, dams, lakes and along the coast to report surges and dangerous rise in water level.
The police telecommunications have set up a special control room at their State headquarters here to receive rain and flood-related information. They have dusted off details of last year’s volunteer rescue boats and teams operated by fishers to return them to rescue and relief operations in flood-affected localities, if required.
Senior officers asked coastal police stations to contact parish leaders to arrange trucks to transport boats and rescue teams to flood-affected localities if such a need arose. They directed station house officers to stop traffic along hilly routes vulnerable to landslips and flashfloods.
The police declared several beaches off-limits for holidayers. They cautioned tourists against visiting Munnar in Idukki, which is witnessing heavy rain.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera ordered District Police Chiefs to be vigilant. He told them to respond on a war footing to distress calls.
At the police station level, supervisors told officers to keep wireless handsets and torches charged. They moved inflatable dinghies from coastal stations to flood-affected localities in Malappuram, Kannur and Kozhikode for rapid deployment.
In Pathanamthitta, Kannur, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kozhikode, the police worked in tandem with local body officials, elected representatives and volunteers to evacuate persons from flood-prone areas. Officers moved in patrol vans in flooded localities urging people over the loudspeaker to move to high ground.