Cyclone Laila wreaked havoc in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh for the second day on Thursday. However, it had weakened when it hit the Andhra coast at Bapatla in Guntur district in the afternoon today.
Meanwhile, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), which had suspended operations on its floating production storage and offloading vessel at KG basin yesterday in view of the storm, remained cautious today, too. “Status quo continues at KG basin,” said a spokesperson of Reliance Industries.
He added that the company had suspended all drilling operations in the east coast. RIL also moved its rigs operating in its contract area to safe zones.
“We are vigilant and monitoring the weather conditions on a regular basis to decide when production can be resumed,” he said.
Marine operations
Marine operations continued to be hit at all the ports on the east coast in Andhra Pradesh.
Pranav Choudhary, chief financial officer of Gangavaram port, said loading was further hit by the rains today. The port had suspended marine operations since yesterday.
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Choudhary further said the port had asked one coal-laden vessel to anchor outside the harbour. “This would result in a delay of one or two days in handling it. However, railway and other cargo activities are going on at the port, though slowly,” he added. According to him, there would be no financial losses as the vessel would be unloaded when normal conditions return.
The situation was no different at Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Krishnapatnam ports. Cargo handling at these ports was stopped due to heavy rains. Railway operations, too, were affected 50-60 per cent. “We are continuing evacuation of material through railways. But rail operations have been heavily hit due to the rains,'' Visakhapatnam port officials said. Cargo operations were going on at two berths at the port.
Flights cancelled
Several flights to the cyclone-affected locations were cancelled. JetLite and SpiceJet cancelled their Vizag-Chennai and Mumbai-Vizag services, respectively. At Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, flights to Visakhapatnam, Bangalore and Rajahmundry were grounded.
Heavy rains and strong gales snapped mobile phone communication in several parts of coastal Andhra. Transport and power, too, were hit. However, Prakasam district bore the maximum brunt among the six districts that were badly affected. In all, about 1,500 villages lived in the dark and communication was disrupted after strong winds uprooted electric poles, transformers and telecom towers.
Several residential areas at Ongole in Prakasam, Bapatla in Guntur and Machilipatnam in Krishna districts were inundated. Road and rail transport were paralysed, especially in Prakasam and Guntur districts, said officials.
50,000 evacuated
Chief Minister K Rosaiah said over 50,000 people had been evacuated, while thousands had moved to safe places on their own. Over 500 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force were deployed with boats and other rescue equipment. Four helicopters were on standby as the state authorities sought Navy help.
Fisheries Commissioner Manmohan Singh said a ban on fishing was in force in the state till May 31, as was the case with other states. This was to allow rejuvenation of fishes.
“The breeding patterns would not be affected due to the cyclone. It is nature's way of keeping checks and balances,” he said.
In view of the ban, the number of people going into the sea had reduced to a large extent, he said, explaining why the damage could possibly be minimum.
Officials allayed fears of a severe damage. “The system (cyclone) is showing signs of weakening due to increase in wind shear and land interaction,” the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its bulletin. It forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over the coastal districts in the next 36 hours. The Met department also forecast heavy rainfall in Orissa and West Bengal in the next 48 hours and advised fishermen to be cautious while going out into the sea.