Cyclone Laila wreaks havoc in Andhra, armed forces called in (Intro Roundup)

HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI/BHUBANESHWAR - Cyclonic storm Laila late Thursday wreaked havoc in coastal Andhra Pradesh, killing 17 people, inundating scores of villages and inflicting massive damage to infrastructure. The armed forces have been called in to help in relief and escue work.

Accompanied by heavy rains, high storm surges and winds with speed of 125 km an hour, the storm hit southern part of Andhra Pradesh, snapping mobile links, forcing cancellation of trains and damaging electricity and communication systems.

Officials said huge storm surges were seen in the Bay of Bengal when the cyclone hit the coast about 50 km north of Bapatla, a town in the southern district of Guntur.

Storm surges of 1.5 to 2 metres inundated the villages along the coast, the officials said.

After the landfall, the cyclone re-emerged in northern Bay of Bengal and headed towards Balasore in neighbouring Orissa through north coastal Andhra.

Weather officials said the course of Laila was not unusual as there were precedents of cyclones re-emerging on sea after landfall.

“The intensity of cyclone Laila has reduced in the last 12 hours and it will further weaken in the next couple of hours. But it will continue to cause heavy rainfall over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana during next 36 hours,” Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Director general A.K. Tyagi told reporters in New Delhi.

Officials said the threat was still not over for Andhra Pradesh as the impact of cyclone would be felt for the next 24 hours. “The wind speed has come down but heavy rains will continue,” Andhra Pradesh’s Minister for Relief and Rehabilitation D.Prasada Rao said.

He said rescue operations were in full swing and appealed to people in relief camps not to return home until the government asks them to do so. About 51,000 people were living in 255 relief camps.

While rain-related incidents claimed 10 lives Wednesday, seven persons were killed Thursday and two were reported missing.

According to a government statement, 35 houses were destroyed fully and 95 were partly damaged. Crops over 40,00 hectares were also damaged.

The rain and accompanying strong winds battered the six coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh where at least 11 towns and 1,500 villages were plunged into darkness as electricity poles and transformers were uprooted, officials said in Hyderabad.

High speed winds also uprooted cell phone towers and damaged other communication equipment in Prakasam, Guntur, Nellore, Krishna, and East and West Godavari districts, officials added.

Except state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the networks of all other mobile service providers were not working in the affected districts, causing anxiety to people in other parts of the state and outside.

Heavy to very heavy rains inundated several parts of the port town of Machilipatnam in Krishna district. Large parts of Ongole town in Prakasam and Bapatla in Guntur districts are also under water, the officials said.

The storm severely hit train services in coastal Andhra Pradesh with as many as 63 passenger trains being cancelled Thursday and Friday and some others diverted.

The armed forces have moved three columns, each comprising 96 men including doctors, from Hyderabad to East and West Godavari and Krishna districts, a defence ministry statement said.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has kept 11 aircraft on standby to meet any eventuality. It has also mobilised two Chetak and two MI-8 helicopters while ten AN-32s and an IL-76 aircraft have been kept on standby to meet any eventuality.

A naval team of 33 men with five Gemini boats has already reached Narsapur in West Godavari district. Two Dornier aircraft and two Chetak helicopters of the Coast Guard conducted sorties Thursday to trace the vessels still out at sea.

A high-level meeting of senior officers of the armed forces was held in New Delhi Thursday evening to review the preparedness and plan a swift response. A relief coordination cell has been set up at the Andhra sub-area headquarters in Hyderabad to coordinate all rescue and relief efforts.

Over 500 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in Prakasam district with boats and other rescue equipment.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi have assured all possible assistance to the state to deal with the situation caused by the cyclone. He spoke to Manmohan Singh, Gandhi and Home Minister P. Chidambaram to apprise them of the situation.

Orissa Thursday evacuated nearly 4,000 people from three seaside villages and moved them to safer places amid fears of high tidal waves due to the cyclone, officials said.

Hundreds of relief and rescue personnel also held drills in several places in the state’s Ganjam district as a part of their preparedness to fight the disaster, Special Relief Commissioner Nikunja Sundaray told IANS.