'Tauktae' to make landfall near Dwarka on Tuesday, PM reviews preparedness

NEW DELHI: With the cyclone ‘Tauktae’ intensifying into a ‘severe’ cyclonic storm over east-central Arabian Sea, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reviewed preparedness of states and central agencies to deal with the situation. The storm is expected to make landfall near Dwarka in Gujarat as a ‘very severe’ cyclonic storm on May 18.
‘Tauktae’ (a Myanmarese name, meaning highly vocal lizard gecko, pronounced as TauTe) will reach Gujarat coast on Tuesday morning and cross the state between Porbandar and Naliya around afternoon-evening (time of landfall) the same day with a wind speed ranging up to 175 kmph, said India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its update on late Saturday evening.

The cyclone is likely to cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Gujarat, including extremely heavy falls in Junagadh and Gir Somnath, and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places in the districts of Saurashtra Kutch & Diu, Junagadh, Porbandar, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Amreli, Rajkot and Jamnagar.
The IMD also warned of storm surge of about 2-3 meters above astronomical tide might inundate coastal areas of Morbi, Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka and Jamnagar districts; 1-2 meters along Porbandar, Junagarh, Diu, Gir Somnath, Amreli, Bhavnagar, and 0.5 to 1meter over the remaining coastal districts of Gujarat during Tuesday afternoon/ evening around the time of landfall.
After review, the Prime Minister directed senior officers to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated by the state governments and to ensure maintenance of all essential services such as power, telecommunications, health, drinking water etc.
“He further directed them to ensure special preparedness on Covid management in hospitals, vaccine cold chain and other medical facilities on power back up and storage of essential medicines and to plan for unhindered movement of oxygen tankers,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Officials and local authorities were during the meeting asked to take special care to ensure that there is least possible disruption in oxygen supply from Jamnagar.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), meanwhile, pre-positioned 42 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipment etc. in six states (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra) and has kept 26 teams on standby.
The Indian Coast Guard and the Navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief, search and rescue operations. Air Force and Engineer task force units of the Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment.
“Seven ships with humanitarian assistance and disaster relief units are on standby along western coast. Surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out serial surveillance along the western coast. Disaster Relief Teams (DRTs) and Medical Teams (MTs) are on standby at Trivandrum, Kannur and other locations along western coast,” said the statement.
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