The city's sole electric supplier, CESC, has promised to keep teams in each of the 144 wards of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Sunday so its men and machines can move fast to areas suffering power outage.

On Saturday, the KMC started alerting residents of dilapidated buildings to move to shelters opened by the civic body in anticipation of Cyclone Remal. The residents would be requested once again on Sunday to at least spend the duration of the cyclone and heavy rain in the shelters. Community halls and schools run by the KMC are converted into shelters during storms and floods.

There are over 2,000 buildings in the city that have been tagged "dangerous" by the KMC. Many of them still have people living inside. The actual number of crumbling buildings could be more.

The Lok Sabha polls in the city on Saturday (June 1) have also kept the KMC on its toes. Civic officials said polling parties reach a polling station a day before the election day. The polling stations have to be readied a few days before that. If the storm causes widespread destruction, it will become a challenge to make all the polling stations ready before the day of polling.

"We have set up additional teams to prevent waterlogging and to cut and remove trees. Our priority will be to bring life back to normal quickly," said a KMC official.

In 2020, when Cyclone Amphan ravaged Calcutta trees lay on roads for several days. The KMC's teams were unable to cope with the pressure of removing so many trees in a short time.

Large pockets of Calcutta, especially on the fringes, suffered long power cuts that stretched to several days. CESC engineers faced the wrath of residents when they went to fix a power outage late.

"We will have teams in each of the 144 wards of the KMC. The objective is that the team can respond quickly to any call," said Avijit Ghosh, the executive director (distribution) of CESC.

"Our representative will be present in the Kolkata Police's control room. This will help us to receive any information quickly," Ghosh added.

He said that the power utility has kept 100 diesel generator sets ready so they could restore power immediately in a place, depending on the circumstances.

The KMC has also requested the CESC to ensure uninterrupted power supply to its drainage pumping stations and booster pumping stations, said a KMC official.

The drainage pumping stations will be crucial to prevent waterlogging while booster pumping stations are part of the potable water supply network.