Visakhapatnam: Andhra Pradesh on Sunday sounded a high alert in the coastal region as a cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal was heading towards it and was likely to cross the region between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam on Monday. Real Time Governance Society (RTGS) of the state government alerted all nine coastal districts.
The navy and coast guard have been called in to help as rescuers prepared for a cyclone forming over the south-west Bay of Bengal on Sunday.
Cyclone Phethai, which is intensifying with a wind speed of around 100 kilometres per hour, is expected to hit the coast in Andhra Pradesh in the next two days.
The State Disaster Response Force (SRDF) and National Disaster Response Force were kept on standby.
Parts of the coastal region, especially Krishna district, on Sunday started experiencing rains and strong winds. The sea became rough.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed the Collectors of coastal districts to take all precaution to prevent loss of lives.
According to Visakhapatnam Cyclone Warning Centre, 'Phethai' will intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm over the next few hours and weaken slightly before making a landfall on Monday afternoon.
It lay centred about 560 km south-southeast of Machilipatnam and 600 km south-southeast of Kakinada on Sunday morning.
The Met office has forecast rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam district of Puducherry on Sunday and Monday.
Squally wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph is likely along and off Andhra Pradesh. The gale speed may reach 100 kmph on Monday.
The Cyclone Warning Centre has warned storm surge of up to one metre could inundate the low lying areas of Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam district of Puducherry at the time of landfall.
Fishermen were advised not to venture into the sea.
Heavy rain likely in Bengal, Odisha
The Met department on Sunday warned of heavy rain in many districts of South Bengal and several parts of Odisha on Monday as an effect of the cyclone 'Phethai'.
The system is likely to move north-eastwards after making landfall on Monday afternoon, it said.
Heavy rain is likely over one or two places in the districts of Howrah, East and West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, West Burdwan, Jhargram and Hooghly on Monday.
Strong wind, with speed reaching 30 to 40 km per hour is likely to blow over northwest Bay of Bengal, the weatherman said in its forecast. The weatherman forecast light to moderate rain for the city on Monday and an overcast sky on Sunday.
While the sky remained overcast in many parts of Odisha on Sunday, districts like Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada and Kalahandi are expected to be lashed by heavy rain under the impact of the cyclonic storm, the Meteorological Centre here said in a bulletin.
Many places in Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Nuapada, Baragarh, Balangir, Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts would experience heavy rainfall on Monday, it said.
The MeT centre forecast light to moderate rainfall and thundershower in many places, mainly south Odisha districts, till December 18.
While there was no general warning for fishermen in Odisha coast, they were advised not to venture into deep sea areas of west central and adjoining south west Bay of Bengal till Monday, it said.
The Odisha government has already asked district collectors to take steps to protect paddy from the unseasonal rain. Farmers have been advised to reap the paddy in their field and bring it to a safe place. They have also been asked to collect the paddy stacks kept in the field for drying to safe place and cover the paddy stacks.