Heavy rainfall was recorded all along 43-k.m. coastline in Guntur district coast till noon on Thursday, but winds and rains were less intense in the Nizampatnam Port area.
Waves were seen rising upto a height of three metres above normal at Suryalanka Beach near Bapatla. According to reports from Hyderabad, the eye of the cyclonic storm lay about 50 kms off Bapatla. The sea water advanced by 15 meters touching many of the installations on the Suryalanka beach.
There was in pitch darkness the whole of Wednesday night and many of the fishermen villages have been forcibly evacuated in Bapatla and Karlapalem mandals. People were evacuated to safer places in Nizampatnam and Dindi areas, but they were returning to their houses now as wind velocity came down from 75 kmph last night to 50 kmph.
Around noon on Thursday, Bapatla is experiencing light rain and winds with speeds upto 50 kmph. District Collector B. Ramanjaneyulu and other officials were supervising the rescue and releif operations from Bapatla while Joint Collector A. Sarath was stationed in Nizampatnam to supervise the evacuation of people from vulnerable areas.
Meanwhile, heavy rain and gale since Wednesday night has left Prakasam district battered as the cyclonic storm headed to the coast. People have not been able to venture out of their homes till 3 pm on Thursday.
While Kothapatnam and Nagaluppalapadu recorded highest rainfall of 350 mm, Ongole received 343 mm till 8 am Thursday. Traffic on the Chennai-Kolkatta NH 5 has come to a halt. Pothurajukalva, a stream, suffered a breach, and water overflowed the highway by four to five feet water. The arterial Kurnool road is also flooded.
All lowlying areas were inundated and officials have evacuatad 6,000 persons to 31 relief camps.
