The very severe cyclonic storm ‘Lehar’ over west central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal moved west-north westward and lay centred over west central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal at about 650 km east-southeast of Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, 600 km east-southeast of Kakinada.
The system is expected to intensify further and move west-north westwards and cross Andhra Pradesh coast near Machilipatnam around afternoon of tomorrow.
Alerting coastal districts, the Met Department has asked for evacuation of people from low lying areas and to regulate rail and road traffic in the next couple of days.Our correspondent reports that control rooms in all 9 coastal districts at district and divisional levels have been opened. Special officers who have been nominated to the coastal districts are supervising rescue and relief operations. People living in low-lying vulnerable areas are being shifted to safer places and relief camps.The state of the sea along and off the Andhra oast will be rough to very rough from this evening. Total suspension of fishing activity has been notified along and off the coast.
A total of 33 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari and Krishna districts besides four columns of the Army and 450 members of the State Disaster Response Force spread across these districts. Four helicopters have been kept ready to take-off if the situation warrants.
He adds that under the influence of the cyclonic storm moderate rainfall with squally winds with speeds reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph are likely to commence this evening and intensify thereafter to heavy to very heavy falls over coastal Andhra including Yanam district of Puducherry and south coastal Odisha.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh has begun re-deployment of forces and officials to tackle the effects of ‘Lehar’ following its changed direction. The state Government has sought additional forces of Army for deployment to carry out relief activities as the impending Lehar cyclone is expected to make landfall near Machilipatnam in Krishna District.State Disaster Management Commissioner C Parthasarathy told our Hyderabad Correspondent that two more columns of the Army consisting of 100 personnel each will reach Vijayawada by this evening. He said five districts, Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari and Visakhapatnam have been put on high alert following change in the storm direction. He also said teams of the National Disaster Response Force are being re-deployed to Krishna and Guntur which are likely to receive maximum affect.
