Fear & panic as cyclone nears AP coast

Fear & panic as cyclone nears AP coast
x
Highlights

With the Cyclonic storm Hudhud likely to take a \"very severe\" turn by Sunday morning, bringing with it very heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it inches closer to the coast.

  • Entire coastal districts remain on high alert
  • Naidu reviews situation with CS
  • Asks the admn to be fully geared up
  • About 250 Army personnel kept ready for any eventuality
  • MET predicts heavy rainfall, gusty winds that can disrupt life

Hyderabad: With the Cyclonic storm Hudhud likely to take a "very severe" turn by Sunday morning, bringing with it very heavy rainfall and gusty winds as it inches closer to the coast, the government of Andhra Pradesh is gearing up to meet the challenge.

On Friday evening, Hudhud was 470 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam and 520 km southeast of Gopalpur, moving closer to the coast. Fear and panic gripped the coastal areas as the cyclone nears the coast.
Teams of National Disaster Response Force seen at a municipal high school in Visakhapatnam on Friday
"The system would continue to move west-northwest wards and intensify further into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours. It would cross north Andhra Pradesh coast around Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of Sunday)," the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a bulletin. The entire government machinery in the coastal districts remained on high alert. About 250 personnel of the Army have also been kept ready in Vizag to aid the administration in rescue and relief operations.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation with Chief Secretary I Y R Krishna Rao and asked the administration to be fully geared up to meet any eventuality. The exact landfall of the cyclone would become clear only on Saturday, the state government said in an official communication on Friday.


Meanwhile, NDRF has mobilised 33 teams to coastal areas, 20 teams have been positioned in coastal and interior areas according to SS Guleria, DIG NDRF.

The MeT office has issued a heavy rainfall warning for the north Andhra Pradesh coast and south Odisha. "Under the influence of the system, rainfall at most places, with heavy (6.5-12.4-cm) to very heavy falls (12.5- 24.4-cm) at a few places, and isolated extremely heavy falls (more than 24.5-cm), would occur over south Odisha from Saturday evening.


According to the MeT department, squally winds reaching speeds of 50-60 kmph gusting to 70 kmph would commence along and off the north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts from Saturday morning. Wind speeds would increase to 130- 150 kmph gusting to 150 kmph from Sunday. Sea condition would be rough to very rough from the morning of October 11. It would gradually become phenomenal from Sunday morning, the MeT department said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chief Ministers and reviewed the state of preparedness to face the fast approaching cyclone.

The Indian Navy has kept teams of personnel ready for relief and rescue operations a navy official said on Friday. The naval base at Vishakhapatnam has kept on stand-by 30 diving teams of 10 personnel each ready with inflatable Gemini crafts and associated equipment. Some 20 rescue teams of 10 personnel each are on stand-by and two ships with medical stores are also on stand-by, the official said.

Show Full Article
Print Article
Next Story
More Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENTS