Team Herald
PANJIM: The control room of the Directorate of Fire & Emergency Services (DFES) have been flooded with emergency calls related to felling of trees, blockage of roads, damage to houses, electricity poles, transformers, etc since Saturday, when Cyclone Tauktae impact was visible in Goa while en route to Gujarat.
DFES director Ashok Menon said that they received 1387 emergency calls pertaining to uprooting of heavy trees such as Mango, Banyan, Nilgiri, Casurina, Gulmohar, Tamrind, Jackfruit etc on major district roads, highways, residential houses, electrical transformers, electrical poles/lines etc from May 15 to May 18.
“The priority of response was given to clearing of uprooted trees fallen and blocking Major district roads & Highways, Residential houses, electrical transformers & electrical poles/lines. The Fire Fighting Personnel across the 15 Fire Stations in the State has been working 24×7 for the last three days to ensure that the Citizens get the required help in such eventuality,” Menon said.
“Out of 1387 Emergency Calls, 599 calls have been attended to and the backlog of 788 emergency calls is being attended to across the State of Goa. The damage estimated on account of severe cyclonic wind is approximately Rs. 1.11 Crores,” he informed.
The Directorate as a proactive measure had on May 15, 2021 briefed all the Fire Stations across the State to be in state readiness for any eventuality for search, rescue, uprooting of tree and other incidents. The Fire Stations which has been into 3 zones – South Zone, Central Zone and North Zone across Goa tackling the aftermath of the cyclonic wind effectively with minimum required disaster management equipment.
