Depression to cross coast today

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, AUG. 23. A depression was lurking in the Bay of Bengal, about 150 km south off Visakhapatnam, on Wednesday evening. It was likely to intensify further and move in a west- north westerly direction and cross the Andhra coast by Thursday morning.

Mr. C. V. V. Bhadram, Director, Hyderabad Meteorological Centre, said the low pressure area which hovered over the bay for three days, became well-marked yesterday and concentrated into a depression.

Under its influence, there would be ``widespread heavy rain'' allover the State on Thursday while winds accompanied by gales would sweep across the coast, reaching up to 80 to 90 kmph. The centre issued a ``very heavy rainfall'' warning for Telangana and the districts of Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Nellore and Prakasam.

The Government put all these areas under alert. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting attended by the Commissioner for Relief and Rehabilitation, Mr. P. Bhaskar Prasad, Mr. Bhadram, and irrigation officials.

Reports reaching Mr. Prasad suggested that there were flash floods in a number of rivulets and streams. Munneru and Palair were in spate bringing heavy inflows into the Krishna at Vijayawada following which the authorities opened 53 out of 70 gates at the barrage at the place. The Prakasam Barrage was letting out about one lakh cusecs into the sea.

The South-West monsoon was ``vigorous'' over coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema and ``active'' over Rayalaseema. Koilakunta and Palair Bridge recorded the day's heaviest rainfall of 16 cm followed by Machilipatnam and Ongole which received 15 cm each and Bapatla and Darsi 13 cm each.

A large number of places in the State reported rainfall ranging from 2 cm to 6 cm. The other chief amounts of rainfall received were as follows: Nandigama, Avanigadda, Repalli 11 cm each; Kavali, Nellore, Piduguralla, Proddatur 10 cm each; Jammalamadugu, Sattenapalli, Tanuku 9 cm each, Cuddapah, Dindigal, Gooty, Mangalagiri, Peddapuram 8 cm each; and Hyderabad airport, Kaikalur, Tadepalligudem and Yellandu 7 cm each.

According to a report from Visakhapatnam, with the cyclone over the Bay of Bengal intensifying, the Collector, Mr. J.S.V. Prasad, advised the fishermen not to venture into the sea.

The Collector held a meeting of officials here in view of the cyclonic conditions, and instructed the engineers of the Irrigation Department, Mandal Revenue Officers, Mandal Parishad Development Officers and Nodal Officers to remain in their headquarters and monitor the situation. Since the precautionary signal No. 3 had been hoisted, the officials must take all the steps in accordance with it.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Next     : No compromise on tariff rollback, says Govt.