Rayagada readies for onslaught of Gulab: Police starts evacuating the vulnerable
Badal Tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada, September 25: Till writing of this report except sporadic drizzling, there were no other indicators of tropical cyclone Gulab in Rayagada, which was declared by the IMD to be in the red zone. As disaster preparedness measure, the district administration has taken all possible measures to face the onslaught of this cyclone originated in Bay of Bengal.
Two major rivers of Rayagada namely Vansadhara and Nagavali & their tributaries are expected to spate due to heavy rainfall. There are also possibility of landslides. As nothing of this sort has happened yet in disaster prone areas like Gudari, Kalyan Singhpur and Gunupur blocks, people residing in low lying areas do not move out voluntarily in spite of bitter experiences of the past. 101 numbers of villages have been identified as most vulnerable.
But with the strict instruction from Sri Vivekananda Sharma, SP, Rayagada, the police in the above blocks have been able to convince and assist the inhabitants in the flood & land slide prone areas in the above blocks in the evacuation process. Priority was given to sick, old, women & children, who were put in the emergency rehabilitation centres with provision of dry and cooked food.
Loud speaker announcement was made warning the villages in the bank of river Nagavali near Seiskhal & Kereda to evacuate and move to the nearby community centres & schools as Multi-purpose flood shelter centres kept ready for rehabilitating the evacuees. Gunupur Sub Collector Mr J Sonal has taken all possible steps in Gunupur, which is likely to be affected the most, as it borders Srikakulum district where the cyclone will landfall. Four NDRF and three ODRAF teams have been deployed in Gunupur and three more ODRAF teams are kept ready in Rayagada district headquarters. Control rooms have got functional in all the blocks and district headquarters where all the BDOs & Tehsildars had been appraised by the Collector Sri Saroj Mishra, who cancelled the leave of all govt employees. Special instructions were issued to health and veterinary authorities to look after the health of human and animals. All this is done to avoid any kind of casualties to humans and animals, according to Collector Mishra.
