The severe cyclonic storm that is set to hit the Odisha-Bengal coast on Thursday night or early on Friday has put the city’s guardians on high alert.

The government-run schools in nine south Bengal districts, including Calcutta, will remain closed from October 23 to 26, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday.

The principal secretaries from various departments have been entrusted with cyclone preparedness in each of the nine districts and the government has stocked relief materials and prepared cyclone shelters in the coastal areas, Mamata said.

In Calcutta, several private schools said they would watch the weather on Wednesday before taking any decision regarding closing schools.

On Wednesday, Kolkata Police will set up a unified command centre with representatives of multiple agencies at Lalbazar in anticipation of Cyclone Dana.

The command centre will have officials from the power utilities, public works department, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), fire and emergency services, disaster management group (DMG) and the police.

CESC has promised to station teams across the city so its men and machines can move fast to areas suffering power outages.

The KMC has started alerting residents of dilapidated buildings to move to shelters opened by the civic body.

Community halls and schools run by the KMC are converted into shelters during storms and floods.

In a Tuesday review meeting at Lalbazar, it was decided that police stations will campaign in their respective areas asking people living in dilapidated buildings to relocate to a shelter till the storm has passed.

Wrecker trucks and cranes will be kept ready for rescue operations, a joint commissioner of police said.

There are over 1,500 buildings in the city that have been tagged “dangerous” by the KMC, said sources in the civic body. Many of them still have people living inside. The actual number of crumbling buildings could be more.

The police will keep the Disaster Management Group teams on standby so they can promptly attend to complaints of trees and lamp posts uprooting and start rescue work.

In 2020, when Cyclone Amphan ravaged Calcutta, trees lay on roads for several days. The KMC 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 power cuts for several days. CESC engineers faced the wrath of residents when they went to fix a power outage late.

“We will have quick-response teams and patrolling vans with men and machines across the city. The objective is that a team can respond quickly to any call. Sufficient number of diesel generator sets will be ready so they could restore power immediately, depending on the circumstances,” said a CESC official.

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

The civic body is also deploying additional men and machines to take care of fallen trees and branches.

A senior official of SEDCL, the state power utility, said “additional manpower would be on duty, especially in the fringe areas to address issues of power outage due to the cyclone”.

State fire minister Sujit Bose said on Tuesday 85 teams would be ready to combat the impact of the cyclone across the state. Eleven of them will be in south Calcutta and four in north Calcutta.

An official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority said teams with electric chain saws, hydraulic earthmovers and payloaders will be kept on standby from Wednesday.