Washington, May 28: The US states of Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have declared an emergency ahead of subtropical storm Alberto expected to make landfall on Monday, authorities said.
The storm continued churning north through the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday and is scheduled to make landfall on the Florida Panhandle early Monday morning, reports CNN.
Florida Governor Rick Scott issued the declaration for all 67 counties in his state.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant authorised the use of the National Guard, his office said in a statement.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency for 40 counties.
Ivey activated the state's emergency operations centre while the Alabama National Guard activated its high water evacuation teams.
Alberto is expected to produce heavy rainfall and flooding over western Cuba, South Florida and the Florida Keys, the National Hurricane Centre said on Sunday.
"Heavy rains and gusty winds continue to spread northward over Florida," it tweeted.
"Hazardous storm surge is possible along portions of the central and eastern Gulf Coast beginning Sunday."
The first named storm of this season, Alberto is expected to strengthen as it moves up the Gulf this weekend, CNN quoted the Centre as saying, bringing heavy rains and possible floods to Florida and much of the Southeast in the coming days.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Ahmedabad (PTI): The Ahmedabad police have arrested a 29-year-old man who allegedly posed as a senior revenue official and used fake letters claiming to be from various government departments to cheat people, an official said on Sunday.
Mehul Shah, an engineer who manages two schools at Vankaner in Gujarat’s Morbi district, is accused of making lakhs of rupees with bogus documents and false claims, said inspector (crime branch) JK Makwana.
Shah had forged an appointment letter from the Ahmedabad district education officer (DEO) to offer a computer operator’s job in a government office to a complainant’s son. He also introduced himself as a trustee of a school and did not pay a man Rs 7 lakh due to him over the painting of a school building, the official said.
“Despite holding no official position in the state or central government, he used fake work permits and NOCs to cheat people of lakhs of rupees,” the police official said.
One complainant alleged that Shah identified himself as a top revenue department official and produced a fake letter from the chairman of the “department of science and research development” to make him install a siren and curtain in a hired vehicle but did not pay for the job, he said.
Bogus letters claiming to be from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ahmedabad DEO were used by the accused to cheat the complainants, the police official said.
Police have recovered from his possession fake identity cards and letters with headings like “bharat gaurav ratna shri samman council”, “chairman of department of science and research development”, “health and family welfare department”, and “road and building department”.
“The FIR is based on complaints by three victims. We appeal to the people to come forward and submit their complaints if they have been cheated by Shah in any way,” Makwana said.