Bhubaneswar, The Odisha government on Monday expedited the evacuation of people from vulnerable areas after Murasu intensified into a severe cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal, officials said.
The India Meteorological Department , in its latest bulletin, said that severe cyclonic storm Murasu was moving at a speed of 25 kmph and lay centred around 200 km east-northeast of Chennai , 210 km east-southeast of Nellore , 270 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam , 220 km east-southeast of Kavali , and 260 km southeast of Ongole . Over 300 rescue teams comprising personnel of NDRF, ODRAF and Odisha Fire Service have been pre-positioned, he said.
IMD sources said that several areas in Odisha have started experiencing light rainfall under the influence of the system and the intensity of the precipitation is likely to increase gradually. Following the warning, the state has prioritised evacuation from vulnerable areas and strengthened emergency response mechanisms, officials said. Odisha’s Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said though the storm is likely to make landfall along the Andhra Pradesh coast, it would impact several parts of Odisha, particularly the southern districts of Ganjam, Gajapati, Rayagada, Koraput and Malkangiri. He said all the district collectors have been put on alert and the southern districts on high alert. The minister said the disaster response teams which were deployed during Cyclone Arnab continued to remain positioned in the same places ahead of Cyclone Murasu.
