With heavy rains and gales lashing Visakhapatnam on Monday amid the forecast of a deep depression crossing the north Andhra coast by Tuesday morning, the memories of cyclones in previous years came flooding to the denizens.
It was on October 11 and 12 when the city and the north coastal districts endured the wrath of three very severe cyclonic storms, equivalent to category IV and V hurricane. All these cyclones either struck or left their destructive impact on the city, when they made landfalls in the neighbouring coastal districts in the last seven years.
On October 2013, the north coastal districts were rattled when very severe cyclonic storm Phailin crossed the A.P. coast and made landfall in Gopalpur in Odisha on October 12. This was followed by very severe cyclonic storm Hudhud that made a landfall in the city on October 12, 2014. It left a trail of destruction and the normal life remained out of gear for over a month.
“The memories of Hudhud is still vivid in our minds. We experienced wind over 200 km per hour. Today’s rain really brought back those memories as it happened on the same day,” said D. Narayana Rao, a Central government employee.
Apart from extensive damage to properties and rendering thousands homeless, at least 124 people had died in the three coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.
On October 11, 2018, Visakhapatnam experienced the fury of very severe cyclonic storm Titli which made a landfall near Palasa in Srikakulam district. At least 77 people had died in Odisha and eight in Andhra Pradesh.
‘Ideal season for cyclones’
However, Prof. S.S.V.S. Ramakrishna from the Department of Meteorology and Oceanography of Andhra University, called it a coincidence.
“Usually, October and November see cyclones. At times, it extends to December. This is the period when the south-west monsoon retreats and the north-east monsoon sets in. It is the transition period and the possibilities of formation of depressions over the Bay of Bengal is high. But luckily, the present weather system is only a depression and it is likely to pass off as a deep depression, without turning into a cyclone,” he said.
