Helen claims four lives

Control room numbers: A.P. State Secretariat — 040-23456005, 23451043; Krishna district collector office — 08672-252572 08672-251077. Around 7,000 people evacuated to relief camps. Heavy rains are likely in the next six hours

November 22, 2013 11:45 am | Updated November 16, 2021 07:54 pm IST - Hyderabad

An electric pole that was damaged after a tree got uprooted and fell on it inAmalapuram on Friday. Photo: S. Rambabu

An electric pole that was damaged after a tree got uprooted and fell on it inAmalapuram on Friday. Photo: S. Rambabu

At least four persons were killed and standing paddy crop in over 1.5 lakh acres destroyed as the severe cyclonic storm, Helen, hit the coast close to south of Machilipatnam on Friday afternoon.

Two deaths each were reported from W. Godavari and Krishna districts. In West Godavari, Penumantra tehsildar G. Satyanarayana (52) reportedly lost control of his vehicle following gales and hit a tree while driving to office from his native village of Batlamogalturu. In the other incident, one Bhaskar Rao was crushed to death when an uprooted tree fell on him.

In Krishna, two persons were crushed to death when a tree and an electric pole fell on them in separate incidents at Kruthvennu and Machilipatnam rural.

Disaster Management Commissioner C. Parthasarathi, however, maintained that only two persons had died in cyclone-related incidents (both in Krishna district). He said over 20,000 people were shifted to 79 relief camps from 346 habitations in Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari and Prakasam districts.

He said standing paddy crop ready for harvest in Narsapuram Division of West Godavari, coconut and banana plantations in Amalapuram Revenue Division in East Godavari had suffered extensive damage.

Initial reports said paddy crop in about one lakh acres was damaged in West Godavari districts alone. This was apart from the crop loss in Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts.

Three boats with 20 fishermen, which were stranded near the Kothapalli light house in East Godavari district, were located and brought to safety by the Coast Guard and district administration officials.

Nellore and Ongole, which were originally predicted to be in the path of the cyclone, escaped its fury, with the storm changing the course twice. Krishna and West and East Godavari districts suffered the maximum impact compared to Visakhapatnam and Guntur districts. Collectors of all coastal districts were directed to be alert as heavy rain was predicted for the next 48 hours.

According to a bulletin issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclonic storm moved west-southwestward and weakened into a deep depression. It will further weaken into a depression. During the next 24 hours, isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall will occur over north coastal AP and adjoining Guntur, Krishna and West Godavari districts. There will be isolated heavy rainfall in Telangana during the next 24 hours.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.