New Delhi, June 04: The Indian Navy which is continuously providing assistance in fighting against the coronavirus is now geared up for the Cyclone Nisarga. With Cyclone Nisarga brewing in the Arabian Sea, the Western Naval Command has put its teams on alert and prepared sufficient resources for flood relief, rescue, and diving assistance in the event of excessive rainfall and flooding of both, urban and rural areas.
Cyclone Nisarga is headed towards the West coast at Maharashtra and Gujarat, is likely to intensify into a cyclone in the next 12 hours and is expected to make landfall close to Mumbai on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Naval Area in Mumbai is on standby with five flood rescue teams and three diving teams throughout the monsoon season who are fully equipped and have been trained for rescue operations are placed at various naval areas across the city in order to provide early response over a larger area.
With the similar arrangements set up within the Karwar Naval Area, the Goa Naval Area as well as Gujarat Daman and Diu Naval Areas, the respective Area and Station Commanders are in touch with the State authorities. The NDRF and SDRF teams are also been readied to be able to respond to a crisis situation in the shortest possible time.
In addition, naval Dornier aircraft and helicopters at various Naval Air Stations at Mumbai, Goa and Porbandar are ready at short notice to ferry teams inaccessible during floods as also rescue stranded personnel. The ships of the Western Fleet have been also embarked with Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) bricks to provide succour to coastal areas inundated due to heavy rain.
Indian Air Force has also provided required assistance in combating the cyclone. The IL-76 aircraft landed at Surat with 5 NDRF teams while another IL-76 airlifted 5 NDRF teams from Vijayawada for Mumbai.
On the other hand, the NDRF teams are deployed in Mumbai, Raigad, Palghar. Thane, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Navi Mumbai. The NDRF team inspected the coastal areas too. As many as 14 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in the coastal region. Five more teams will be airlifted from other states and reach here soon, a statement by NDRF said.
Meanwhile, Gujarat will have a total of 17 NDRF teams, including two on standby. Over 20,000 People To Be Evacuated In Gujarat from 47 villages located close to the state coastline.
