Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s southern districts witnessed light rainfall as severe cyclonic storm Murasu hit the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh Tuesday, even as the state government asked all district collectors in the region to remain prepared to handle any adverse weather conditions, a minister said.
Odisha’s Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari told PTI that district collectors of Koraput, Malkangiri, Kandhamal, Kalahandi and several others have reported light rainfall.
“We hope the situation will not be adverse. Four IAS officers – two in Ganjam, and one each in Gajapati and Kandhamal districts – have been deployed with full powers as additional special relief commissioners,” he said.
The minister said the state continues to remain on high alert as landslides have emerged as a major challenge for Odisha.
“We are on high alert, and the people of the hilly terrain will remain in shelters for some time, keeping in view of the weather conditions,” the minister said.
The state government has shifted more than 1.65 lakh people to safety and deployed disaster response teams in five southern districts in view of an IMD forecast of heavy rain and gusty winds. Around 592 permanent and temporary shelters are currently operational across these districts, officials said.
Although Andhra Pradesh’s Ongole, where Cyclone Murasu made landfall, was around 950 kilometres from Gopalpur in Odisha, southern regions of the eastern state are on high alert for expected rains over the next two days, they said.
Precautionary measures have been taken in these districts, and Anganwadi centres and schools remain closed Tuesday and Wednesday in certain southern districts.
Over 300 teams of the disaster response forces, including the NDRF, ODRAF, and fire services, remain deployed across vulnerable regions, the officials said.
Odisha Chief Secretary Anu Garg said officials have geared up relief and restoration work in southern districts after Cyclone Arnab wreaked havoc in the region.
She said that each affected family was being provided 50 kilograms of rice and Rs 2,500.
After Cyclone Arnab, the severe cyclonic storm Murasu has left a trail of destruction in coastal Andhra Pradesh, uprooting thousands of trees, damaging hundreds of electric poles, and wrecking fishing boats, with people recounting their ordeal as the cyclone crossed the coast early Tuesday.
The IMD, in its forecast, said heavy rainfall is expected at places in Odisha’s Koraput and Malkangiri Tuesday.
It also predicted thunderstorms, accompanied by lightning and gusty winds, in Baleshwar, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Kataka, Kendujhar, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khordha and Nayagada.
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