Acting on the alerts of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) of a 'severe cyclonic storm' - Tauktae - in Gujarat during the next 24 hours, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is deploying over 50 teams in the state, informed NDRF Director General S N Pradhan.
"By the evening or late night, 50 teams will reach Gujarat. We are constantly working on evacuation and awareness generation," said NDRF DG.
"Gujarat is most likely to experience the maximum impact," he added.
Speaking to ANI, he further informed that over 100 teams of NDRF have been deployed in five to six states, but half are being used in Gujarat because of the prediction of a higher impact in the state.
Home Minster Amit Shah chaired a meeting with the chief ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra and Administrator of Daman and Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli on Sunday to assess the preparedness of the states.
S N Pradhan, who was also a part of the meeting informed that the Home Minister's direction is to aim for zero casualties.
"During a meeting with the chief ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra, the Home Minister said that our aim should be zero casualties and we are focusing on that. Maybe, we need to evacuate lakhs of people in Gujarat," he said.
On questioning about the impact of the cyclone, NDRF DG said, "Some people have died in Tamil Nadu due to wall collapse and electrocution. Some people have died in Karnataka."
According to official reports, five people have died in Karnataka on Sunday due to the cyclone. Goa has reported two deaths so far.
IMD DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra informed that cyclone Tauktae is very likely to cross the Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district around the early morning of May 18.
He further said that heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected to occur in coastal areas of Gujarat on May 17 and May 18. Meanwhile, some places may experience extremely heavy rainfall.
( With inputs from ANI )
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