Police commissioner Shankar Jiwal said 12 teams of the District Disaster Response Force are deployed in Chennai. (Express)
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The Chennai police have said they are working in coordination with the city corporation and the departments of fire and rescue and electricity to provide rescue and relief services in view of Cyclone Mandous even as 13 flights stood cancelled on Friday.
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According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the cyclonic storm moved northwestwards with a speed of 14kmph during the past six hours and lay centered at 2.30pm on Friday over the southwest Bay of Bengal, off the north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts, 135km southeast of Mamallapuram and about 170km south-southeast of Chennai.
“It is very likely to move nearly northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Sriharikota around Mamallapuram as a cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph during midnight of December 9 to early hours of December 10,” an IMD bulletin read.
Police commissioner Shankar Jiwal said 12 teams of the District Disaster Response Force are deployed in the Tamil Nadu capital. To carry out rescue operations in boats, four teams are kept on standby. A team comprising 40 members of the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Response Force are also kept ready, he said.
As many as 16,000 police personnel will be on duty round the clock for rescue and relief operations. Safety awareness messages have been spread across the city through loudspeakers. Police reiterated requests for the public not to visit beaches and venture out unnecessarily.
Barricades are set up in the city to prevent motorists from getting closer to potholes and other areas with water stagnation.
