Chhattisgarh has made all arrangements in place across 27 districts on Saturday to brace the super cyclone Phailin. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has been kept ready to deal with any situation.
The State Government sounded high alert in the State after rain accompanied by wind pounded several areas of Chhattisgarh mainly bordering Odisha late on Saturday evening. Chief Secretary Sunil Kumar held a high-level meeting with additional chief secretary (Home) NK Aswal, Director General of Police (DGP) Ramniwas and other top officials and reviewed the arrangements made to deal with Phailin. Kumar instructed district collectors to make all arrangements at war-footing level in their respective districts.
Chief Minister Raman Singh has appealed to people to maintain patience in a time of impending natural disaster and don’t pay heed to rumours. Doctors at government hospitals across the state have been put on guard to provide medical support to cyclone-hit people.
The weather department has predicted heavy rain accompanied by high-velocity wind in all the seven districts of Bastar which share border with Odisha. Bastar is expected to receive heavy rain coupled with high speed wind. Weather department officials said that the high intensity rain is likely to cause flash floods in river and revulets flowing in Bastar. Mighty Indrawati River flowing through Bastar has three major dams over it in neighbouring Odisha and these dams are virtually filled to their capacity.
Due to the heavy rain in catchment areas will force authorities to open the gates of Khatiguda, Kholab and Gulmi dams which may ultimately cause misery to people living in these areas besides damage to standing crops as major portion of south west Bastar including Bijapur will be submerged.
As a precaution, some trains going to Puri and Vishakhapatnam from Raipur/Durg have been cancelled on Saturday while routes of some of the long distance trains operating on East Coast Rail route have been diverted. Trains which have been cancelled include Durg-Puri Express, Durg-Vishakhapatnam Express, Durg Passenger, Korba-Vishakhapatnam link Express.