The Severe Cyclonic Storm Lehar turned into a ‘Deep depression’ and crossed coast near Machilipatnam at around 2 p.m. on Thursday. There was no human loss and no significant damage to standing crops.
Over 9,000 people, mostly from fishermen community, were evacuated while another 8,000 in the seven coastal mandals were provided shelter in the 22 relief camps during the day.
“The relief camps will continue till Friday evening keeping in the view the climatic conditions and stagnant water in some low lying areas,” said Krishna district Collector M. Raghunandan Rao. Relief camps were run in Nagayalanaka and Kruthuvennu mandals for Yanadi tribal families and were being supplied food. They were also provided medical care.
Indian Army and National Disaster Response Force teams joined the district officials in monitoring the situation till the evening. Normalcy prevailed after the deep depression crossed the coast, but fishing would be not allowed till Saturday. Fishermen were asked to wait till further orders from Met Department.
“The crop damage is minimal as the wind speed came down significantly on Thursday. However, the normal rainfall and favourable climatic conditions gave farmers some relief,” said Mr. Raghunandan Rao. Secondary Education Minister Kolusu Parthasarathy visited some low-lying areas and promised timely enumeration of crop damage and release of compensation to the farmers.
Above 4 lakh cattle was provided security during the day, said officials. Weathermen confirmed that Lehar had weakened greatly within hours, though it gained wind speed reaching between 100 kmph and120 kmph on Wednesday evening. Heavy rainfall was not recorded anywhere in the district since Thursday evening.
