On Monday, the Andhra Pradesh government has put seven coastal districts on high alert over cyclonic storm Phethai. The seven coastal districts are Guntur, Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam.
Oil rig tilts off the Andhra coast due to Cyclone Phethai, stabilisation work begin
It was predicted by the Indian Meteorology Department that on Monday afternoon the cyclone will hit the coasts of Andhra Pradesh along with heavy rain in the state of Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand.
Various teams were arranged in the areas where it was likely to be obstructed by the cyclone, such as National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
Since Sunday night heavy rainfall was observed in the East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Cyclone Phethai: Highlights
In the moring around 10:30 am, an official statement was released by the cyclone warning centre in Visakhapatnam saying that the cyclonic storm Phethai had declining to some extent. The statement states “It’s located about 160 km southeast of Machilipatnam and 190 km south of Kakinada, and is likely to move in northerly direction and cross Kakinada by this afternoon”
Educational institutions such as colleges and schools in the districts of Andhra Pradesh were closed especially in cyclone prone coastal areas.
South central railways cancelled many passenger trains including Nidadavole, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada port, Vijayawada, Narsapur, Machilipatnam, Rajahmundry, Bhimavaram and Guntur. More than 50 trains were cancelled in Andhra Pradesh. Also, flights to Vishakhapatnam were also cancelled due to bad weather for landing.
Due to fall in oxygen levels in ponds for the reason of a abrupt fall in temperatures, fish and prawn recounted heavy fatalities in the districts of Krishna, West Godavari and East Godavari.
Reports of six fishermen who went for fishing on Sunday were found missing. The fishermen were from Kakinada and was named Vasupalli Danelu, Kundedu Kasi, Vasupalli Yarrayya, Maripalli Satti Babu, Perla Kasulu and Merugu Yesobulu.
At 1:20 pm Weather agency Skymet through their official twitter account released the statement that said, “Cyclone Phethai has just now made its landfall between Narsapur and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh”.
Around 2:00 pm on Monday afternoon, cyclone ‘Phethai’ made its landfall in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh which resulted in bringing restrained to heavy rain.
The Real-Time Governance Centre which is at the state Secretariat declared that ‘Phethai’ started declining into a cyclone after 12.25 pm when the Phethai hit the land near Katrenikona with a wind speed of 80 kmph.
Cyclone Phethai: After Cyclone Highlights
More than 14,000 hectares of standing crop has been damaged in Cyclone Phethai in the Andhra Praesh state. Paddy crop which were ready for harvesting was also worstly affected by Cyclone Phethai, causing a huge loss to the farmers of AP. Other crops and plantations such as banana plantations, maize, tobacco and many were also affected.
On Tuesday, N Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister steered an above ground survey of districts of East and West Godavari districts in the state which was hit by the cyclone on Monday.
There were still moderate to heavy rainfall which was observed on Tuesday too in the state. Rescue and relief measures were paced up in cyclone Phethai-hit districts of Andhra Pradesh.
12 fishermen who were missing in the Bay of Bengal on Monday were rescued on Tuesday. Also, another crew of fishermen comprising of 14 crew members were missing from Kakinada coast, were also saved by the operation held by the Coast Guard.
