Puri: People in coastal districts of Odisha are in panic as Cyclone Amphan developed into a severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal with the potential of becoming ‘very severe’ in the next 24 hours.
For this, the Puri District Administration issued an alert for all the blocks especially Astaranga, Kakatpur, Gop and Konark blocks Sunday for tackling an imminent cyclone.
A 21-member team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) moved to Puri Sunday while 60 teams of ODRAF, Village Welfare Department and Fire Brigade Department are pre- positioned in the district.
District Collector Balwant Singh said if the wind speed will exceed 40km per hour, power connection will be snapped in the district.
For emergency services like hospital and water supply 30 sets of generators have been arranged by the district administration. The Collector asked people to not worry about availability of essential commodities.
885 cyclone shelters have been kept ready to evacuate 90,000 people of the district, if needed.
The people living on the sea-coast have been asked to leave their houses and shift to cyclone shelters by May 19.
Fishermen are advised not to venture into the sea.
The district administration has cancelled holydays of all government employees and asked them to help block administration in order to tackle the severe cyclonic storm properly.
PNN