Cyclone Helen to cross Andhra Pradesh Thursday night; massive evacuation in 4 districts ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chennai: The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal would intensify into a cyclonic storm and cross the coast between Chennai and Ongole Thursday night, the Indian Meteorological Department said here on Wednesday. Cyclone Helen would cross the south Andhra Pradesh coast near Kavali on the night of November 21, the IMD said. The deep depression over west-central Bay of Bengal would intensify into a cyclonic storm in the next few hours and to a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours, it said. Massive evacuation has been undertaken in four districts of Andhra Pradesh before the severe cyclone hits the eastern coast on Thursday followed by very heavy rainfall. Moving westnorthwestwards for some time and then westsouthwestwards, the cyclone would cross south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts between Chennai and Ongole close to Kavali around the night of November 21, the IMD said. IMD further warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall over coastal Andhra Pradesh from Wednesday onwards. Squally winds with speed of 5565 kmph gusting to 75 kmph would prevail along and off north Andhra Pradesh and north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts, it said, adding sea conditions would be very high along and off Andhra Pradesh coast. The National Disaster Management Authority has asked for zero casualty preparedness from the state government. We have asked the state government to ensure zero casualty. They have already started evacuating people living along the coastline to safer places, NDMA Vice Chairman M. Shashidhar Reddy told PTI. There are around 350 cycle shelters in Andhra Pradesh and all of them will be used to lodge people to be affected by the cycle. Some of the 137 under construction cyclone shelter will also be used for the purpose. Reddy has spoken to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and other state government officials and asked them to be ready with some plan on the restoration of essential communication post cyclone phase. District Collectors were instructed to take all precautionary measures and ensure zero casualty by evacuating people from low lying areas. Major districts to be hit are Nellore, Prakashan, Guntur and Krishna in Andhra Pradesh. Warnings have already been issued to fishermen in the area to stay away from sea until the cyclone settles down completely. Source: deccanchronicle/131120/news-current-affairs/article/cyclone-helen-cross-andhra-pradesh-thursday-night
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:05:18 +0000
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