Cyclone Phethai: Fishermen breathe easy; give full marks to Met office

Fishermen laud accuracy in forecast

Denizens breathed easy on Monday with Cyclone Phethai’s impact over the city being limited to heavy rain and strong gales.

Fishermen were all praise for the continuous forecasts by the Met department and the timely advice from the Revenue department which helped them call off their fishing operations and anchor their boats at the docks well in time.

The fishermen said they did not venture into the sea for the past five days ever since news of the cyclone broke. A majority of the mechanised boats were anchored at the harbour while some fishermen who had ventured into the sea towards Odisha were directed to anchor their boats at Gopalpur and Paradip ports.

Arasavilli Jagadish, a youth from Jalaripeta, one of the largest fishing hamlets, lauded the weather prediction system for its accuracy. However, some fishermen expressed resentment that there was no compensation for the loss of income suffered by them.

“We didn’t embark on a voyage in our catamaran boats for the past four to five days. We are disappointed that the government has neither set up a relief camp nor provided us food,” Badi Yellaiah, a fisherman of Mangamaripeta near Bheemili, told The Hindu .

Fishermen rue losses

Village revenue officer of K. Nagarapalem, Appalaraju, said though they had ordered a supply of 80 lunch packets from the city, delivery was delayed due to heavy rains. “It is unfortunate that most of the cyclone shelters set up after the 1990 cyclone are in a deplorable condition,” said Arjili Dasu, a resident of Pudimadaka and a leader of the Fishermen Youth Welfare Association.

Tides surging to a height of five metres accompanied by strong winds held up operations at the Visakhapatnam Port. As a precautionary measure, Port authorities issued an advisory to ships in the outer harbour to stay in anchorage. “Loading and unloading was minimal in the inner harbour due to strong winds and high tides. We expect to resume normal operations from Tuesday ,” VPT Deputy Chairman P.L. Haranadh said.