New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a crucial meeting today to review preparations to deal with the approaching cyclone Yaas. The meeting is being attended by key ministers, representatives from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), secretaries from Telecom, Power, Civil Aviation, and Earth Sciences ministries besides Home Minister Amit Shah. Cyclone Yaas is likely to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm and cross the Odisha and the West Bengal coasts on May 26, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday reviewed the state’s preparedness and asked officials to evacuate people from low-lying areas. A high alert was also sounded in all coastal districts of the state.  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had Thursday asked the senior government officials and the district administrations to make all the necessary arrangements to tackle the cyclonic storm Yaas, which is likely to hit the coastal areas of the state between May 23 and May 26.

Cyclone Yaas: LIVE UPDATES

14:03 PM: PM directed officials that advisories and instructions on dos and don’ts during the cyclone be made available in easy to understand and local language to citizens of the affected districts: PMO

14:00 PM: PM Modi spoke about need to ensure that time duration of outages of power supply & communication network are minimum & restored swiftly. He asked officials to ensure proper coordination & planning with state govt to ensure no disruptions in Covid treatment & vaccination in hospitals: PMO

13:58 PM: PM Modi directed senior officers to work in close coordination with states to ensure the safe evacuation of people from high-risk areas & timely evacuation of those involved in off-shore activities: PMO

13:55 PM: Indian Coast Guard, Navy have deployed ships, helicopters for relief, search, rescue operations: PMO on preparations to tackle cyclone Yaas

12:37 PM: Airlift of 21T of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief equipment & 334 personnel of NDRF by 5xC-130 aircraft from Patna & Varanasi to Kolkata and Arakkonam to Port Blair is currently underway: Indian Air Force

12:12 PM: 18 NDRF teams pre-positioned at Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, and Mayurbhanj and 4 teams on standby in Odisha: DG NDRF Satya Pradhan

11:57 AM: PM Narendra Modi attends meeting with senior govt officials & reps from National Disaster Management Authority, Secretaries from Telecom, Power, Civil aviation, Earth Sciences Ministries reviewing preparations against approaching Cyclone Yaas.