Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness to deal with the aftermath of impending cyclone ‘Vayu’. The severe cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall between Porbandar and Veraval in Gujarat in the early hours of Thursday.

According to an official statement, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials have informed that the cyclone, which will have wind speed of 110-120 kilometres per hour, gusting to 135 kmph, is likely to cause heavy rainfall and storm surges of about 1-1.5 metres. This may inundate low-lying coastal areas across Kutch, Devbhoomi Dwarka, Porbandar, Junagarh, Diu, Gir Somnath, Amreli and Bhavnagar.

After the review, the Home Minister directed senior officers to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated. He also asked officials to ensure essential services such as power, telecommunications, health, drinking water are maintained and services restored immediately in the event of cyclone damage. Shah also instructed that control rooms should function 24x7.

The National Crisis Management Committee, chaired by Cabinet secretary P K Mishra, is scheduled to meet later on Tuesday to review the preparedness of the State and Central agencies. The meeting will also be attended by Gujarat Chief Secretary and adviser to Administrator of Diu, the statement said,

Apart from Indian Coast Guard, Navy and Army and Indian Air Force personnel, 26 teams of National Disaster Response Force, equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipment have already taken up positions. Another 10 NDRF teams have been despatched on the request of the Gujarat, the statement said.

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