personnel as the state prepares to face yet another cyclone, ‘Helen’, which will make a landfall in Nellore late on Thursday night.
According to the Met department, Helen has intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and will cross south Andhra Pradesh coast between Sriharikota and Ongole, close to Kavali in Nellore.
Under its influence, heavy to very heavy rainfall has been predicted at several places with isolated extremely heavy showers over south coastal Andhra Pradesh for the next two days.
The timing of Helen could not have been worse as officials said the state is yet to assess the total damage caused by super cyclone Phailin, which hit parts of the state in October.
Super Cyclone Phailin, triggered heavy rain and resulted in huge damage to agricultural crops and property.
A storm surge of about 1 to 1.5 metres is expected at the time of landfall and it could cause huge loss to low-lying areas, he said.
“Damage to thatched huts, breaking of tree branches, minor damage to power and communication lines are expected over south coastal Andhra Pradesh. Fishermen are advised not to venture out into sea,” a government statement said.
Disaster management teams have been deployed in four coastal districts, including Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna, while people from villages are being evacuated.
Squall speed gusting to 75 kilometres per hour (kmph) would prevail along and off AP and north Tamil Nadu coast, commencing from Wednesday night, officials said.
Gale winds speed reaching 100-110 kmph and gusting to 120 kmph would prevail along the coastline once there is a landfall.
Under influence of the latest storm, sea conditions would be rough to very rough and authorities have warned fishermen not to venture into high seas.
Furthermore, the Met department has given a forecast for increased rainfall activity over south peninsular India from November 23-27, as a low pressure area over south Andaman Sea is intensifying further in the next two days.
State disaster management commissioner C Parthasarathy said six teams of NDRF have already been deployed in Kavali in Nellore district.
Authorities hoisted danger warning signal No. 3 at Krishnapatnam, Vadarevu, Nizampatnam and Machilipatnam ports, while danger signal No. 2 was in place in Kakinada and Gangavaram ports.
“We are also deploying fire services personnel in Nellore and Prakasam to assist police and other departments. Our target is to ensure zero casualties and also prevent destruction of properties,” Parthasarathy added.
In Nellore, 52 villages have been identified as the ones likely to be inundated and local officials were informed to evacuate the people from these areas.
The district collectors have cancelled leaves of all government employees and asked them to join duties immediately.
Nellore district collector N Srikanth and joint collector B Lakshmi Kantham reviewed the preparedness with all field officials and asked them to open relief centres by Thursday morning and take steps to evacuate people from the coastline to the relief centres.
In fact, Nellore district had been receiving rain for the last one week under the influence of a depression that crossed the coast near Nagapatnam in Tamil Nadu three days ago.
District collectors of Krishna and Guntur have been put on alert as heavy rain are likely to occur in these districts.
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