Hyderabad: Cyclone Laila struck the coast of Andhra Pradesh 50 kms away from Bapatla at around 1-15 pm on Thursday.
Weather office has said that the storm will completely cross the coast by 3 pm. The coastal belt from Krishna to Nellore district was being battered by very heavy rains and gale winds of 90 kms per hour, uprooting tress, electricity installations, cell phone towers.
The Chief Minister K Rosaiah said that despite weakening somewhat, the storm had the potential to cause havoc in the region.
Laila, brewing over west-central and southwest Bay of Bengal for the past three days, has started showing signs of weakening but it was still powerful enough to cause destruction in the coastal belt of Andhra Pradesh.
The death toll in the rain has risen to 15 with seven more deaths in house collapse and drowning reported on Wednesday.
According to the latest bulletin of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), there was slight change in the direction of the system and instead of Machlipatanam, it was likely to cross the coast near Bapatla in Guntur district on Thursday evening.
The coastal belt of Andhra from Nellore to Visakhapatanam was battered by heavy rains throughout Thursday with some places recording as much as 32 cms of rains.
Such was the impact that Prakasham and Guntur districts were enveloped in darkness during the day as Laila (night in Arabic) proving true to its name. Weather office said that there will be gale winds with a speed of 100 to 115 kms per hour when the storm hits the coast.
The cyclonic storm lay centered 50 kms away from Bapatla on Thursday morning and was moving slowly in north-northwest direction.
Widespread rainfall with scattered heavy to very heavy falls and isolated extremely heavy fall of 25 cms or more over coastal Andhra and north Tamil Nadu were forecast by the IMD. Gale force wind with maximum speed reaching 115 to 125 kms per was likely along and off AP coast at the time of landfall, it said.
The entire coastal belt was in the grip of terror and fear of Laila as the state government said that 12 lakh people will be directly affected by the storm, described as the worst since 1977 hurricane which killed 10,000 people in Krishna district.
The Andhra coastal belt from Nellore to Visakhapatanam, parts of Rayala Seema and Telangana region were receiving heavy rains for the last two days.
Situation has turned pretty grim as a major part of Machlipatanam town, 350 kms east of Hyderabad was submerged. Tada in Nellore, bordering Tamil Nadu received highest rainfall of 13 cms during last 24 hours, the Met office in Hyderabad said.
East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasham were also receiving heavy rains.
Sea has rushed in up to one km at Diviseema in Krishna and Antarvedi in East Godavari district where rivers Krishna and Godavari join the Bay of Bengal. The tidal waves were up to three meters high and gale winds with a speed of 70 to 80 kms were already lashing the region.
Trees, electricity poles and hoardings were uprooted and fell on the roads in several places affecting the traffic. There was complete darkness in hundreds of villages in six districts.
Officials have said that such was the possible impact of Laila that it can result in one third of the annual rainfall in 36 hours. While the annual rainfall of the state was about 900 mm, the storm can trigger a rainfall of 250 mm.
State revenue minister Dharmana Prasad Rao said that more than 1100 villages were identified as vulnerable and people were being evacuated from there.
Already 50,000 people have been moved to safer places. About 500 relief camps have been opened in six districts and food and other essential commodities were being provided to them, he said.
Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who spent the night at his office in state Secretariat monitoring the situation, said that every possible measure was already taken to deal with the situation.
“We are fully geared up to meet any eventuality”.
He briefed the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi over phone last night.
“They have assured full cooperation and assistance”, Rosaiah said.
“People should not get panicked and cooperate with the administration in evacuation”, he said.
National Disaster Management Authority based in New Delhi has rushed its team of expert and more than 500 personnel of National Disaster Response Force to the areas of potential disaster with 80 inflatable boats and other rescue equipments. State government has requested for more such rescue personnel.
Eastern Naval Command of Indian Navy at Visakhapatanam has also been put on alert and about 100 army men have also reached Vijaywada airport. However Navy and army have said that they will press the helicopters in to service only after the storm hits the coast.
IMD has forecast that after crossing the coast, Laila will move in Northeasterly direction overland and after passing over Visakhapatanam and Vizianagaram it was likely to weaken over Balasore in Orissa, re-enter Bay of Bengal and head towards Chittagong in Bangladesh.
Officials were afraid that the cyclone will have a crippling impact on Andhra Pradesh economy already passing through a very difficult time. It has destroyed standing crop of rice, banana and mango over thousands of acres in the coastal region.
