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Cyclone batters districts of Visakha and Godavari

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Cyclone  batters districts of Visakha  and Godavari
Cyclone batters districts of Visakha and Godavari

Under the  influence of  Laila  Cyclone,  the  districts of  Visakahapatnam, East and West Godavari  experienced heavy rains on Wednesday.

Cautionary signal No.7 (the highest intensity) has been hoisted at all Andhra ports as the depression over the Bay of Bengal turned into a cyclonic storm and lay centred 460 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam.It is likely to cross the coast between Ongole and Visakhapatnam by early hours of Thursday.

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The  Government machinery was put under high  alert to meet any  eventuality. After  nearly two  decades, the  Coastal Andhra  Pradesh is  experiencing a cyclonic  storm in the month  of May.

The administration in Andhra Pradesh's coastal region is put  on high alert and National Disaster Response Force from neighbouring state of Orissa was called in for rescue operations.

The National Disaster Response Force from  Bhubaneshwar is  stationed at Visakhapatnam will  look after the rescue operations in the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari.

The  coastal towns  in all the  three districts  recorded  a rainfall of nearly   64  mm. The cyclonic rain on Wednesday morning, upset the normal life.Control rooms  were setup in all the district  headquarters.

 In East  Godavari  about 20  fishermen  were reported missing while   in West Godavari  district breaches occurred in many fishing tanks causing  heavy loss to fish-tank owners.

All the  low-lying areas  have  been  inundated with rainwater. The rescue teams evacuated the  people  from the low-lying areas as a precautionary  measure.  Many  electric poles were razed to the ground  due  to the   gale winds which  blew  with a velocity  of 70-75 kmph.