Cyclone Nisarga: PM Modi Speaks To Uddhav Thackeray, Vijay Rupani

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday morning and assured them of all support from the Centre in the wake of cyclone Nisarga likely to hit the two states. A tweet from the Office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had spoken to both chief ministers, as also the administrator of Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Praful K Patel with regard to the cyclone situation. The Twitter post added that PM Modi had assured all possible support and assistance from the Centre to the states and Union Territory.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed 20 teams in Maharashtra and several others in Gujarat for rescue and relief operations with cyclone Nisarga moving towards the point of landfall. In all, 40 NDRF teams have been deployed in Maharashtra and Gujarat, while 78,000 people have been evacuated in Gujarat.

The Navy has also kept flood teams and diving teams on standby. The naval teams are trained and equipped for rescue operations and can respond in quick time over a large area.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the storm has intensified as the cyclones eye diameter has decreased over the last one hour. IMD also mentioned that the wind speed has gone up to about 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph from 85-95 kmph.

Mumbai has been experiencing heavy rainfall since Tuesday evening. Palghar has also witnessed light rain as cyclone Nisarga is set to turn into a severe cyclonic storm in a few hours.

Government authorities have asked residents to be prepared for power cuts, as also water supply cut at the time of the landfall.

Both Maharashtra and Gujarat are already reeling from the onslaught of COVID-19 and the civic and healthcare infrastructure in both states is already overwhelmed. Added to this, cyclone Nisarga threatens to compound the adverse situation being faced by these two Western states.