Coastal districts in Andhra Pradesh have been experiencing heavy rains since this morning under the influence of cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal.
The system is likely to intensify further and move towards north-westerly to northerly direction and cross the Andhra Pradesh coast between Nellore and Kakinada by Thursday morning, Met officials said on Wednesday.
A high alert has been sounded in coastal regions and revenue officials have started evacuating people from some areas of Visakhapatnam, Krishna, West and East Godavari districts, official sources said.
The State government has taken all precautionary measures and helicopters and boats have been kept ready to meet any eventuality, they said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah also held a high-level meeting with ministers and officials concerned to take stock of the situation in view of the cyclonic storm warning.
A report from Machilipatnam said, 120 relief centres have been set up in Krishna district. The report, quoting the Collector, said 15,000 quintals of rice, redgram, oil and kerosene have been stored in these centres.
East Godavari District Collector M. Ravichandra said precautionary measures have been taken amid warning that cyclone ‘Laila’ had intensified over the Bay of Bengal.
