Bhubaneswar: May 19: The deep depression over west-central Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm ‘ROANU’ on Thursday.
‘Due to this, heavy rains likely to occur in parts of Odisha today and tomorrow and the speed of wind will be less than 100km/h,” Chief Secretary A.P.Padhi said after a review meeting on Cyclone preparedness here at state secretariat. Odisha Government has directed all departments to remain alert over the probable cyclone ‘Roanu’.
Collectors have been asked to open control room and keep ODRAF teams ready for rescue operations. Chief Secretary said, Government has decided not to allow any government employee to take leave on May 20 and 21. Further, satellite telephonic services have been activated to communicate with district collectors during emergency services and auxiliary services have been kept ready to restore electricity supply and make roads navigable in case of emergency.
The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister and Chief Minister asked all departments to remain ready to tackle the situation properly.
It is to be noted here, as per the IMD bulletin of today’s morning, Roanu was lying centred over west-central Bay of Bengal about 350 kms southwest of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The system is likely to move in northeast direction along and off north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
