Cyclone: CM Asks Officials To Ensure No Loss Of Life, Property

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has directed the officials to ensure there’s no loss of life and property from cyclone Arnab and initiate all requisite measures in districts along the coastline.

Naidu held a review meeting on Monday with senior officials and with the district collectors virtually to

discuss preparedness and gear up the state administration to meet any exigency. He directed collectors along the coastline to initiate preventive action in advance.

IMD has forecast a severe cyclone by Tuesday with major impacts on several parts in the state.

Officials, the CM said, must evacuate people from low-lying areas to cyclone shelters. The aged, differently abled, pregnant women and children must be shifted to safe zones on a priority basis.

Officials said 4,711 pregnant women were being shifted to the nearby primary and community health centres and hospitals.

The CM asked officials to deploy seven NDRF and eight SDRF teams to the 11 coastal districts and keep additional forces in reserve in NTR and Visakhapatnam districts. Officials should avail the services of marine police, Indian Navy and the India Coast Guard to to deal with the cyclone-related situations.

The officials said all the fishermen who ventured into the sea were brought back to the shore. Some 30,043

boats returned to the harbours safely. In response, the CM asked the officials to ensure that the fishermen should not go back for fishing into the sea until the cyclone weakened and the sea turned into normal position.

The CM asked the officials to initiate a slew of measures like shifting the harvested paddy to the safer zone

and protecting farms as several horticulture crops in about 1.82 lakh hectares were facing a threat from the cyclone.

The local administrations, he said, must ensure adequate stocks of essential commodities in the fair price shops. The energy authorities must restore power immediately in case of any disruption due to the cyclone.

He asked the officials to release a weather bulletin every four hours by keeping track of the path of the

cyclone to alert the people.

Officials estimated that under the impact of cyclone Arnab, heavy rainfall was expected in several districts

and the floods were likely in areas covering 22 reservoirs. The CM called for measures to store nearly 10 to 12 tmc-ft of water and said reservoirs like Tandava, Raiwada, Yeleru, Tammileru, Yerrakaluva and Tadipudi were expected to be filled up to the brim.

He asked the officials to ensure no obstruction to the flow of the water in rivulets, streams and canals.

District collectors must initiate stern action against those who tried to take up a misinformation campaign on the impact of the cyclone through social media platforms.

Naidu also directed them to declare holidays to educational institutions after assessing in which areas the impact of the cyclone to be severe.