Cyclone Phailin to hit AP tomorrow

• Phailin to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm
• Winds of 175-185 kmph likely on October 12 evening
• Heavy rain forecast in six coastal districts & Telangana
• CM holds meeting with officials
• Collectors of nine coastal districts alerted: Raghuveera

Hyderabad: “Phailin” intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and lay centered over east central Bay of Bengal on Thursday. The system will intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours. It will continue to move north westwards and cross the north Andhra and Odisha coasts between Kalingapatnam and Paradeep close to Gopalpur by evening of October 12, as a very severe cyclonic storm, with maximum sustained wind speed of 175-185 kmph. High alert has been sounded in nine coastal districts of the state in view of the cyclonic storm.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has reviewed the cyclone, preparedness and precautionary measures being initiated by various departments with Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy and Chief Secretary P K Mohanty. The Chief Minister directed the Chief Secretary to instruct officials to take all precautionary measures to protect the lives and property of the people of the likely-to-be affected districts. He said people and cattle from all the low lying and vulnerable areas should be shifted as and when necessary to safer places.

Following directions from the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary, Commissioner, DM, T Radha along with other top officials held a video conference with Collectors of 9 districts at Secretariat and reviewed the situation. The Chief Secretary told the Collectors of the 9 Coastal Districts- Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam and Nellore that as per the latest IMD Bulletin, the cyclonic storm, PHAILIN over East Central Bay of Bengal moved slightly north-westwards.

It intensified further and lay centered about 850 km southeast of Paradip, 900km east-south-east of Kalingapatnam and 950 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam. The system would intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours. It would continue to move northwestwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coast between Kalingapatnam and Paradip by the night of October, 12 as a very severe cyclonic storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 175-185 kmph.

Due to this cyclone, the three North Coastal districts -. Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam -- are likely to experience very high rainfall from Thursday onwards and other coastal districts would also receive heavy rainfall.

Control rooms opened

A round-the-clock Control Room was already opened in Revenue (DM) Department in the Secretariat premises and the Telephone No. is 040-23456005/23451043 Fax- 040-23451819.

District Collectors of all the nine coastal districts were instructed to open control rooms at district, divisional and mandal level. The details of the telephone numbers of control rooms and communication plan has to be given to Government as well as to media for wide publicity. Following are the details of the control room numbers opened in the districts.

The Collectors were instructed to position manpower from Revenue Department including Deputy Collectors, RDOs, tahsildars, municipalities, panchayatraj and other departments by calling them back from the strike and immediately report for duty in exigencies. Disaster Management Cells in the Collectorates have to be activated by positioning the staff and equipment.

The Met office on Thursday forecast heavy rain at isolated places in Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and in all districts of Telangana during the next 48 hours. Moderate to rather heavy rain or thundershowers will occur at many places in Coastal Andhra and Telangana and at a few places in Rayalaseema. There will be no major change in the weather outlook during the subsequent two days.

On Wednesday, rain occurred at a many places over Coastal Andhra and Telangana. Isolated rain occurred in Rayalaseema. The chief amounts of rainfall (in cm) on Wednesday were: Yellandu, Hyderabad 10 each, Aswaraopet 9, Bhadrachalam , Vijayawada , Narsapur, Srungavarapukota 8 each, Gudivada, Koderu, Dubak, Medchal/Manchal, Chevella, Madhira, Hakimpet 7 each, Chodavaram, Rentachintala, Therlam, Nandigama, Machilipatnam, Bapatla, koida, Bheemgal, Wanaparthi 6 each, Khanapur, Bobbili, Prakasam Barrage , Repalle , Nagarjunasagar , Golconda , Kollapur 5 each, Nagarkunrool, Bhimadole, Darsi , Ramannapet , Nirmal , Metpalli 4 each, Sangareddy ,Narsipatnam, Ranasthalam, Bhimunipatnam, Macharla, Paderu, Veeragattam , Sompeta, Yelamanchili , Ongole, Mudhole, Jagtial, Kunavaram, Kalwakurti, Nalgonda, Mulug,Vikarabad, Jangaon 3 each.

Forecast for Hyderabad and its neighbourhood valid until the morning of October 12: A few spells of rain or thunder showers at times heavy, in some areas. The maximum and minimum temperatures will be around 31 and 22 degrees Celsius respectively.

What is Phailin?

Phalin, or its variation Phailin, is a Thai origin word which is the name of a baby girl. It is not the first name but the last one. It is uncommon in that language and is believed to be linked to fishing communities. It is not confirmed but a particular community known as ‘Ancient Faces’ is thought to be taking that name for its baby girls.