Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said the government aims to avoid the loss of even a single life in the face of very severe cyclonic storm Arnab threatening major damage to the state.
The weather system is likely to cross the coast between 2 am-4 am on Wednesday, the Met Department has said.
Addressing a press conference at his camp office in Undavalli, CM Naidu noted that saving all lives is the priority of the government, even as he cautioned people in the vulnerable districts to stay alert and indoors even after the landfall of Arnab.
He said that over 84,000 people have been moved to shelters in the affected districts.
“Our idea is only one; not even losing a single life. Saving all lives is our priority. There is no need for people to panic but they have to take precautions,” CM Naidu said.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department said the very severe cyclonic storm over west-central Bay of Bengal moved west to northwestwards with a speed of 18 km per hour (kmph) in the past six hours up to 5:30 pm today and lay centred over west-central Bay of Bengal.
The weather system is located about 90 km southeast of Kakinada, 170 km south to southwest of Visakhapatnam, 170 km east to northeast of Machilipatnam, 240 km east to northeast of Bapatla and 410 km southwest of Gopalpur.
“It is very likely to continue to move nearly west-northwestwards during next few hours, then northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh & Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to south of Yanam as a very severe cyclonic storm with the maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 kmph (and) gusting to 150 kmph during early hours of October 28,” it said in an update.
Due to faster movement, the landfall of the cyclone is expected early, likely during early hours around 2 am to 4 am on Wednesday, it added.
Observing that powerful winds and gales will blow until Krishna district, the CM noted that districts starting from West Godavari to Srikakulam are expected to witness heavy rainfall under the influence of the very severe cyclonic storm.
According to the CM, thick dark clouds indicate the arrival of heavy rainfall.
He observed that heavy rainfall is expected from Krishna district to West Srikakulam districts, along with extremely heavy rainfall in some places.
Naidu said cyclonic damage could be more in Konaseema, Eluru, West Godavari, Parvatipuram Manyam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Kakinada.
He added that 30 cm rainfall is expected in Srikakulam district, followed by West Godavari (28 cm) and Visakhapatnam (23 cm), among others.
More than 10 cm rainfall is expected in several places, he said, appealing to inhabitants in low lying areas to go to relief camps.
The TDP supremo advised people living in all the affected districts to cancel their travel plans on road or rail and appealed to them to stay indoors.
He also appealed to people to avoid going out for nature’s call in the morning.
“We have identified 2,199 cyclone shelters and prepared evacuation plans, prioritising the elderly, children, persons with disabilities and pregnant women. Already, 2,360 pregnant women have been shifted to medical facilities,” Naidu said.
Food, drinking water, medicines and generators are being arranged and control rooms are functioning round the clock, he said.
He observed that more than 13,000 policemen will be on duty during the cyclone.
The CM called for crowdsourcing of information on uprooted trees and assured that the government is aiming to bring normalcy as much as possible and save assets.
Citing estimates, the CM noted that up to 15,000 electric poles are expected to be uprooted. He said the government is also monitoring over 36,000 mobile phone towers.
Owing to massive rainfall, Naidu said Nagavali and Vamsadhara rivers are expected to swell. The government will monitor water flows during the cyclone, he said and observed that drones have been arranged to drop food and medicines in marooned villages.
Naidu said 8,400 personnel were kept on standby to attend to power disruptions.
According to the CM, agricultural crops in 7.16 lakh hectares are estimated to be affected by Cyclone Arnab and also another 16 lakh hectares of horticultural crops.
Naidu said schools have declared holiday today and tomorrow, adding that the government is deploying technology to track the cyclone.
He noted that technology is being utilised to generate models to arrive at inferences such as the magnitude of the eye of the storm and several other parametres, which will be handy for future disasters also.
Outlining the priorities of the government, Naidu said saving lives and minimising damage to assets and avoiding suffering are important.
Further, he appealed to all coastal and seaside villagers not to venture out during the cyclone, adding that power will be cut in places with heavy gales.
“I appeal to everyone to remain calm, stay alert and cooperate with the authorities. Move immediately to designated shelters when advised. Fishermen must not venture into the sea until official clearance is given,” the Chief Minister said.
-PTI
