With the Cyclone Nilam expected to touch Andhra Pradesh between Cuddalore and Nellore by Wednesday evening, the Met department has warned of isolated to heavy rains in the four coastal districts of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore besides the entire Rayalaseema region during the next 48 hours.
Squally winds with speeds reaching 45-55 kmph gusting to 65 kmph would prevail along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts during the next 12 hours.
“In fact, the wind speeds can hit 90 kmph while Nilam gets closer to coast,” said an official from the Met department.
The impact of the depression turning into a cyclonic storm was felt on Tuesday in parts of southern coastal districts which witnessed moderate rains. And while revenue minister N. Raghuveera Reddy told mediapersons on Tuesday that the impact of the storm would be less in the state, the movement of the storm indicated otherwise.
The cyclonic storm remained practically stationary and lay centred about 450 km south-southeast of Chennai and 130 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka). The system will move north-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu near Chennai by Wednesday evening.
Chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked the revenue minister and also chief secretary Minnie Mathew to constantly monitor the situation and issue necessary instructions to the concerned district collectors.
A control room has been set up at the secretariat with the telephone numbers 040-23456005 and 040-23451043. Similar control rooms have been set up at the concerned districts too.
A 47-member rapid action team has also been deputed to Nellore from the National Disaster Management unit stationed at Guntur as part of precautionary measures.
Warning signals of third level were hoisted at all the ports and a control room — with phone number 08672-252572 and toll-free number of 1077 — was set up at Machililpatnam and another one at Ongole with the number 08592-281400.
Meanwhile, rough seas and huge waves led to erosion of the coast to the extent of 10 metres near Govindupallipalem in Kota mandal of Prakasam district during the early hours of Tuesday.
Fishermen had a tough time in recovering their nets and boats got struck close to the area subjected to erosion.
In Nellore, around 70 villages have been identified as vulnerable and officials have identified shelters to evacuate people in case of emergency, said District Collector Mr Sreehdar.
The district administration of Srikakulam has also sounded a cyclone alert and has got necessary measures in place. A special helpline number 08942222565 has also been made available as the district has the state’s longest coastline of 193 km.
Cyclone Nilam has also got lakhs of farmers in Krishna district concerned about their crops as the main paddy crop will reach the harvesting stage after November 15 while two other important crops, chilli and cotton, are in the running stage.
The farmers have invested hundreds of crores of rupees for cultivation of paddy in nearly seven lakh acres, cotton in 30,000 acres, chilli in 30,000 and other crops like maize, sugarcane etc. in another 50,000 acres.