PM chairs high level meeting to review preparedness to deal with Cyclone Jawad

New Delhi: A well marked low pressure area over southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to move northwestwards and intensify into a Cyclonic Storm, Jawad, with the wind speed ranging upto 100 kmph over central parts of the Bay of Bengal during next 24 hours, the India Metereological Department (IMD) warned here today.

It is likely to reach west-central Bay of Bengal off north Andhra Pradesh – south Odisha coasts around December 4, 2021 morning,and thereafter it is likely to move north-northeastwards, the IMD stated.  It is likely to cause heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. 

The Low Pressure Area was concentrated into a Depression and laid centered at 1730 hrs IST of today, over southeast Bay of Bengal near Lat. 11.0°N and Long. 89.0°E, about 960 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 1020 km south-southeast of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 1060 km south-southeast of Paradip (Odisha).

The IMD warned fishermen not to venture into Andaman Sea on December 2, 2021, into southeast and adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal on December 2 & 3, over west-central and northwest Bay of Bengal and along and off north Andhra Pradesh – Odisha- West Bengal coasts during December 3- 5, 2021. It stated that sea condition will be rough to very rough over along and off North Andhra Pradesh – Odisha coast from the mid-night of December 3 and become High to very High from 4th Afternoon, for the subsequent 12 hours. It will be rough to very rough along and off West Bengal coast from 4th morning and High from the same evening for the subsequent 12 hours.

“Forecast track and intensity are given in the following table:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting today to review the preparedness of States and Central Ministries and concerned agencies to deal with the situation arising out of the likely formation of Cyclone Jawad. He directed officials to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated and to ensure maintenance of all essential services such as Power, Telecommunications, health, drinking water etc. and that they are restored immediately in the event of any disruption. He further directed them to ensure adequate storage of essential medicines & supplies and to plan for unhindered movement. He also directed for 24*7 functioning of control rooms.

In view of the building up of the cyclonic storm, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has pre-positioned 29 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipments etc. in the States and has kept 33 teams on standby. it is assisting the State agencies in their preparedness for evacuating people from the vulnerable locations and is also continuously holding community awareness campaigns on how to deal with the cyclonic situation.

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 Army, with boats and rescue equipment, are on standby for deployment. Surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out serial surveillance along the coast. Disaster Relief teams and Medical Teams are standby at locations along the eastern coast. Ministry of Power has activated emergency response systems and is keeping in readiness transformers, DG sets and equipments etc. for immediate restoration of electricity. Ministry of Communications is keeping all the telecom towers and exchanges under constant watch and is fully geared to restore telecom network. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has issued an advisory to the States/ UTs, likely to be affected, for health sector preparedness and response to COVID in affected areas.

Ministry of Port, Shipping and Waterways has taken measures to secure all shipping vessels and has deployed emergency vessels. The states have also been asked to alert the industrial establishments such as Chemical & Petrochemical units near the coast.