Rain-battered coastal Andhra braces for cyclone
November 4th, 2010 - 1:31 pm ICT by IANSHyderabad, Nov 4 (IANS) The coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh, already battered by heavy rains that have claimed 26 lives so far, is now threatened by a cyclonic storm, officials said Thursday.
Fearing further damage and loss of lives and property during the cyclone, the army, air force and navy, besides the Disaster Management Response Force, have been kept on standby.
Under the influence of a depression over the Bay of Bengal that is threatening to unleash a cyclonic storm, rains and thundershowers would occur at most places, from Saturday morning, weather office said.
Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfalls were also expected over north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts, it added.
Wind speeds could touch 65 kmph, and commence along and off north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast, the weather office said in a statement.
Sea conditions will be rough to very rough, and fishermen have been advised against venturing into the sea.
“The depression over southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclone and move west-northwestwards towards north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast during next 72 hours,” the Indian Meteorological Department statement said.
“Latest satellite imagery indicates that a depression has formed over southeast Bay of Bengal and lay centred at 0530 hrs IST of 4th November, 1150 km east of Batticaloa, 1400 km east-southeast of Chennai and 1450 km southeast of Visakhapatanam,” the statement explained.
Heavy rains, caused by low pressure over Bay of Bengal and vigorous northeast monsoon, have caused widespread devastation in six districts of coastal Andhra.
Officials said the rains have claimed 26 lives in four days, though the downpour has stopped now. Nearly 600,000 people in 1,000 villages and two towns have been affected, and standing crops over seven lakh acres were damaged, dashing the farmers’ hopes of a bumper crop this season.
About 50,000 people were shifted to 110 relief camps in the affected districts. More than 126,000 houses were submerged.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah is scheduled to conduct an aerial survey of the affected areas in East Godavari and Krishna districts Thursday.
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- Andhra on alert as cyclone 'Thane' threatens coast (Lead) - Dec 27, 2011
- Relief for coastal Andhra as cyclone threat dissipates - Nov 08, 2010
- Alert in Andhra as cyclone threatens coast - Nov 06, 2010
- Cyclone Thane to cross Tamil Nadu coast Friday morning - Dec 29, 2011
- Navy rescues 11 fishermen, Andhra coast on high alert (Lead) - Dec 29, 2011
- Tidal waves continue to slam Andhra coast - Dec 29, 2011
- Cyclone threat along Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu coasts - Dec 27, 2011
- Coastal Andhra braces for cyclone 'Thane' (Lead) - Dec 28, 2011
- Andhra faces cyclone threat, 20 killed in rains (Second Lead) - Nov 02, 2010
- Five evacuation teams deployed in Andhra - Nov 06, 2010
- Cyclone weakens, heavy rains likely in Orissa - Nov 08, 2010
- Tamil Nadu gears up for cyclone Thane (Lead) - Dec 29, 2011
- Wet Diwali for Bangalore - Nov 04, 2010
- Cyclone may hit Tamil Nadu, Andhra - Nov 04, 2010
Tags: army air force, batticaloa, bay of bengal, bumper crop, cyclonic storm, disaster management, heavy rainfalls, indian meteorological department, kmph, management response, morning weather, northeast monsoon, response force, satellite imagery, sea conditions, southeast bay, standing crops, tamil nadu, thundershowers, weather office