Day after Cyclone Tauktae, Goa without power

Panaji, May 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) A day after Cyclone Tauktae wreaked havoc in the state, claiming two lives, large parts of Goa on Monday continued to be without electricity and water supply, after heavy winds and rain uprooted hundreds of trees and damaged electrical infrastructure including electricity poles and transformers.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told reporters that power would be restored to rural areas only by Tuesday and said that he had spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the damage caused by the cyclone.

"The Home Minister inquired about the widespread damage caused by the cyclone in the state and assured full support of all Central agencies to the State for returning to normalcy. We will provide all necessary assistance to Goans impacted by the cyclone," Sawant said.

The Chief Minister also held a virutal conference with top officials and instructed officials top "work on warfooting" to assess the damage caused by the calamity.

Sawant said that the national highways would be cleared of obstacles and debris on priority, while efforts were on to provide uninterrupted power to hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. "Power will be restored to villages by May 18," Sawant said.

The Chief Minister also said that as many as 700 electric poles and around 200 transformers were damaged due to the impact of the cyclone.

Sawant also said that the cyclone had caused major mobile network outages in the state.

"People in Goa have been facing mobile network issues due to disruption caused by Tauktae cyclone. Intra-Circle Roaming (ICR) facility has now been activated across Goa. You can switch over to any network which is available in your area through the manual settings of your device," the Chief Minister said.

Source: IANS