Nilam shakes up the coast

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Cyclone Nilam packing heavy rain and winds up to 90 kmph is expected to cross the coast between Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu and Nellore by Wednesday evening.

The Met department has warned of rain in the coastal districts of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore besides the entire Rayalaseema region.

Squally winds with speeds reaching 45-55 kmph gusting up 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 the coast,” an official from the Met department said.

The impact of Nilam turning into a cyclonic storm was felt on Tuesday in parts of southern coastal districts which witnessed moderate rain. 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 storm remained practically stationary about 450 km south-southeast of Chennai and 130 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka). The system will move north-northwestwards and cross the coast.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has asked the revenue minister as well as chief secretary Minnie Mathew to constantly monitor the situation and issue necessary instructions to the district collectors concerned.

Meanwhile, rough seas and huge waves led to erosion of the coast by 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 that got stuck close to the eroded area.

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 Sreedhar.

The district administration of Srikakulam has also sounded a cyclone alert and has got necessary measures in place. 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 sta-ge 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.