Hyderabad: Even before it could recover from the havoc caused by the week-long heavy rains and floods, which claimed 25 lives, the coastal state of Andhra has had to brace itself for another potentially disastrous cyclonic storm which could hit both hit Tamil Nadu and Andhra.

The state government has put the administration on high alert and asked the Indian navy and air force to stand by to help in dealing with any disaster situation.

According to the Cyclone Warning Centre in Visakhapatanam, the storm is brewing in the south Andaman sea, 1,500 kilometres south east of Visakhapatanam, and is moving in a westerly direction. “It has moved 350 kilometres during the last 24 hours”, a spokesman told Gulf News.

Andhra is likely to feel the impact of the storm from Friday onwards as it causes heavy to very heavy rains, accompanied by gale winds.

The cyclonic storm comes as heavy rain and flooding in coastal Andhra resulted in the death of 25 people over the last five days and forced more than 30,000 people to move to relief camps.

Visakhapatanam has also reported 10 deaths because of the weather conditions, while seven people have died in the East Godavari district.

The government has warned coastal guards in these areas to be high alert as a result. Alternative communication networks and satellite phones are at the ready in case they are needed.

Chief Minister, K Rosaiah, has asked the government for help in advance, as coastal Andhra reels under massive devastation caused by heavy rains over the last week. The rains have so far displaced 600,000 people and damaging 9,694 houses. Another 87,390 houses were partially damaged, said the minister.

Crops too have also fallen victim to the horrendous weather conditions with 5, 00,000 acres destroyed.

The Chief Minister K Rosaiah has urged officials to take all the necessary measures including the deployment of medical teams. “We have opened 100 relief camps in the affected areas where 31,000 people were camping”, the revenue minister said.

On Wednesday morning, in the latest rain related mishap, a house collapsed in Keshana village in East Godavari district, killing two people. Deaths have been reported in East and West Godavari, Visakhapatanam, Nellore and Prakasham.

In the Visakhapatanam district, rail service has been hit as flood waters flowed above the tracks leading to the derailing of an iron ore-laden good trains. A total of 10 houses were also damaged in a landslide at Yellamanchali.

Public transport was also badly hit in many places in the region as the roads and were submerged.

The latest threat has left the state administration worried and officials in all the coastal districts have been put on alert.

“We have asked officials to alert the people in the low lying areas, especially in the districts where the storm is likely to hit”, Dharmana Prasad Rao said.