Cyclone Yaas: Railway suspends 25 trains, Armed forces airlift 950 NDRF personnel
The low-pressure area which formed over the east-central Bay of Bengal on Saturday morning has intensified into a depression on Sunday.
The Eastern Railway on Sunday said it has cancelled 25 trains between May 24 and May 29 due to Cyclone Yaas. The Railways issued a press release, informing about the decision and also shared lists of the trains it has canceled.
The low-pressure area which formed over the east-central Bay of Bengal on Saturday morning has intensified into a depression on Sunday and by Monday morning, it will form a cyclone namely Yaas, informed the India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General of Meteorology Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra
"It is very likely to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm. It will cross West Bengal and north Odisha coasts on the evening of May 26," informed Dr Mohapatra.
IMD had predicted the wind speed of the cyclone to be around 155-165 km per hour, gusting to 185 km per hour. Speaking to ANI, Dr Mohapatra said, "This is a very large-scale and damaging wind speed. It is almost similar to the wind speed of cyclone Tauktae.
Even cyclone Amphan, which made landfall last year, had a similar wind speed."Meanwhile, on Sunday Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of the States and Central Ministries/Agencies which will be dealing with the disaster arising out of the predicted cyclone `Yaas.`
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces have commenced preparations to mitigate the impact of the anticipated disaster by airlifting 950 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel across the country, with 26 helicopters in standby for immediate deployment.
As per a statement from the Ministry of Defence, 70 tonnes of load has also been airlifted from Jamnagar, Varanasi, Patna and Arakonnam to Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Port Blair in 15 Transport Aircraft as of May 23.
"A total of sixteen transport aircraft and 26 helicopters are on standby for immediate deployment while the Indian Navy, fresh from Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and rescue operations on the Western Coast, has moved 10 HADR pallets to Bhubaneswar and Kolkata," the statement said.