Due to a red alert for extremely heavy rain issued by the India Meteorological Department, schools and institutions in a number of Gujarat districts, including Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, and Dahod, will be closed on Friday, NDTV reported.
The Surat district and city administration started evacuating residents of low-lying regions as part of preventative preparations.
"In light of the forecast of high-velocity winds, the Surat Municipal Corporation has begun checking the strength of hoardings, lowering levels of high-mast street lights and closing certain roads, as part of safety measures," stated Municipal Commissioner M Nagarajan in a video message on Thursday.
Ahead of a forecast of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall between July 31 and August 2, Gujarat has stepped up its disaster preparedness efforts and put 13 districts on high alert. The state government has cancelled leave for officials in vulnerable districts, activated round-the-clock control rooms, and instructed emergency response agencies to remain prepared for deployment.
At the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) in Gandhinagar, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Dr Jayanti Ravi presided over a thorough meeting where the steps were examined.
Ravi thoroughly examined the current state of affairs and the districts' preparedness for disaster management. He mandated the maintenance of 24x7 control rooms in each district and the round-the-clock deployment of one Class-I officer to oversee operations in order to bolster the emergency response, as reported by NDTV.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been kept prepared..
Local organisations have been requested to remove hoardings in rural areas, according to Surat District Collector Tejas Parmar. He asked cattle herders to keep their animals "not tied to poles" and in the open so they could discover safe havens on their own.
In accordance with instructions given by the Ahmedabad collector under emergency powers, the district education officers of Ahmedabad East, West, and Rural also issued shutdown orders for all schools and colleges.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation declared that till August 3, all anganwadis would be closed.
ALSO READ: Umargam's Record Rainfall: Where Gujarat's Deluge Stands Among Global Weather Extremes
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