AMN / New Delhi
The Centre on Wednesday deployed 21 NDRF teams in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and put Army, Navy and Coast Guard on standby in view of impending cyclonic storm Titli that is likely to cross coastal areas of the three states on October 11 morning.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal along with necessary rescue equipment. The information was shared in a National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting chaired by Union Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha here on Wednesday.
Some additional NDRF teams have also been put on standby in areas likely to be affected. The cyclone is expected to make a landfall on October 11 along the coast between Orissa and north Andhra Pradesh between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.
“In addition, the three states have also deployed their own rescue teams along with power boats while Army, Navy and Coast Guard have also been put on standby so that they can be deployed at a short notice.”
The meeting was attended by the senior officer from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Defence, National Disaster Management Authority, National Disaster Response Force, India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Integrated Defence Staff (IDS). Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal participated in the meeting through video-conference represented by the respective Chief Secretaries and Additional Chief Secretaries.
The very severe cyclonic storm, Titli is being monitored by the coastal Doppler Weather Radars at Visakhapatnam, Gopalpur and Paradip. The latest observations indicate that the Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘TITLI’ over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved northwestwards with a speed of about 15 kmph during past 06 hours, intensified into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm and lay cantered at 1130 hrs IST of today, the 10th October 2018 over Westcentral Bay of Bengal near latitude 16.8°N and longitude 85.6°E, about 280 km south-southeast of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 230 km southeast of Kalingapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
It is very likely to intensify further during next 12 hours. It is very likely to move north- northwestwards and cross Odisha & adjoining north Andhra Pradesh coasts between Gopalpur & Kalingapatnam around morning of 11th October.
Thereafter, it is very likely to re-curve northeastwards, move towards Gangetic West Bengal across Odisha and weaken gradually.
Forecast track and intensity are given in the following tab