‘Cyclone will cause rain, no serious damage now’

NEW DELHI: Cyclone Tauktae has died down from very severe storm to a depression scattered over Gujarat and Rajasthan which will mainly cause rain now and no other serious damage, SN Pradhan, director general of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said on Tuesday evening.

Asserting that the worst is over, Pradhan said 46 teams of NDRF are still stationed in the region to clear the debris, fallen trees, and poles and assist the authorities in restoration of tracks.

The Gujarat government has informed the NDRF that there have been no deaths.

“It was very important to clear the roads and vital arteries of communication during these troubled times of COVID-19. We have sent troops and personnel who have been vaccinated with both doses,” he told news agency ANI earlier in the day, adding that they were equipped with special suits and accompanied by paramedics, doctors and attendants while sharing his hope that the forces will come out unscathed by the pandemic.

“Initially there were reports in the morning of hundreds of villages losing electricity but within an hour the electricity has been restored. These are good signs of the disaster response capabilities of India and the states. It will take some more time to complete the restoration,”he told news agency ANI.

Meanwhile, Union home minister Amit Shah spoke to chief ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan and took stock of the situation on Tuesday after the landfall of Cyclone Tauktae, ministry officials said.

They said the minister talked to the CMS over the telephone and extended support of the Centre in aiding and mitigating challenges that arose in the aftermath of the ‘extremely severe cyclonic storm’ battering the costal areas on the country’s western shore along the Arabian Sea.