Cyclone Kyant: Odisha government put collectors of districts on high alert

The Odisha government on Tuesday put the collectors of 14 districts on high alert even though the IMD predicted that Cyclone Kyant is likely to move towards Andhra Pradesh coast.

The directions to collectors in coastal, northern and southern districts were issued by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik through video-conferencing while reviewing the preparedness.

IMD Director S C Sahoo, who attended the chief minister's review meeting, said, "Cyclone Kyant is likely to move towards north Andhra Pradesh. However, the coastal region and adjacent districts may experience rainfall under its impact on October 27 and October 28."

The deep depression created over east-central Bay of Bengal has moved west-northwestwards and intensified into a cyclonic storm, named as Kyant and lay centred about 710 km east-southeast of Gopalpur, a bulletin issued by the IMD said.

The system will move initially west-northwestwards and then west to west-southwestwards towards west-central Bay of Bengal during the next 72 hours, it said, adding that Distant Cautionary Signal Number One (DC-I) has been replaced by Distant Warning Signal Number TWO (DW-II) at all ports in Odisha.

On the impact of the cyclone, Sahoo said, surface wind from northerly direction with speed reaching 45 to 50 KMPH with gusting 65 KMPH would prevail along and off Odisha coast from October 27 to October 29. Sea condition would be rough to very rough, he said.

The office of the special relief commissioner (SRC) also asked fishermen not to venture into the sea. Fishermen already in deep sea are also advised to return to coast immediately, SRC P K Mohapatra said.

Mohapatra said, "The district collectors are told to remain prepared with all essential items to face any eventuality. Official holidays have been cancelled and the government staff have been asked to remain in field on October 29 and 30 to keep a watch on the situation."

The collectors have also been asked to keep the harvested crop covered as rain is expected under the influence of the cyclonic storm.

Besides Patnaik, Chief Secretary, DGP, Regional Meteorological Department director, SRC, Secretaries of Revenue, Food, Energy, Agriculture and Rural Development departments, officials of NDRF, Fire and ODRAF attended the meeting.