Hyderabad: Even before it could recover from last week’s cyclonic storm Helen, Andhra Pradesh was once again put on alert by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday against yet another cyclone.

“Leher”, brewing in southeast Bay of Bengal intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and lay centred 1,300km east-southeast of Machlipatanam, Cyclone Warning Centre, Visakhapatanam said.

The department said that coastal Andhra will start receiving isolated to heavy rains from Wednesday as the cyclone will inch closer to the coast.

Weather officials have also warned that gale winds of 40 to 50km per hour will also start along the coast from Wednesday night.

CWC has warned that the severe cyclonic storm was moving towards west-northwesterly direction and was likely to further intensify into very severe cyclonic storm and cross the coast on November 28 between Machlipatanam and Kalingapatanam near Odisha.

Gale winds of 170 to 200km per hour will hit the area at the time of cyclone crossing the coast. Apart from coastal Andhra, neighbouring states of Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were also likely to receive heavy rains and thunder showers under the influence of “Leher”, IMD said.

“Leher” has already cross Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the region was receiving heavy rains under its influence.

The same belt was battered by two cyclones in less than six weeks. While Phailin had hit the coast near Kalingapatanam on October 12, Helen had hit the coast on Friday last. Phailin did not cause any loss of life in Andhra Pradesh but 8 people died in the devastation caused by Helen.

The repeated natural calamities have caused widespread loss of crop and damaged the public and the private property in several coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Farmers, who were about to harvest the ready crop of paddy and other grains, suffered back-breaking losses.

Apart from coastal Andhra, neighbouring states of Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were also likely to receive heavy rains and thunder showers under the influence of “Leher”, IMD said.

“Leher” has already crossed Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the region was receiving heavy rains under its influence.

As “Leher” was likely to be packed with more devastating power than Helen, Andhra Pradesh government has already started mobilising its resources to brace up for the threat. Commissioner Disaster Management C Parthasarathy had a video conference with the collectors of the coastal districts in the path of the cyclone and asked them to be on a high alert.

“We have alerted all the district collectors and asked them to be ready for evacuation of the people on a short notice”, he said.

The officials have warned the fishermen against going in to the sea as the sea conditions were likely to become rough.