Key Takeaways
- The Severe Cyclonic Storm Michaung is projected to hit the South AP coast within four hours, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.
- A storm surge of up to 1.5 m could inundate coastal districts, prompting emergency alerts across Andhra Pradesh.
- Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has allocated Rs 2 crore for rescue and relief operations in the affected regions.
Hyderabad: The Severe Cyclonic Storm Michaung (pronounced as Migjaum) over Westcentral Bay of Bengal moved northwards at 10 kmph during the past six hours.
It was centered at 0930 hours on Tuesday near Latitude 15.2°N and Longitude 80.25°E, about 35 km southeast of Ongole, 50 km northeast of Kavali, and 90 km north‑northeast of Nellore.
The system lay 80 km south‑southwest of Bapatla and 140 km southwest of Machilipatnam.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) in a bulletin said, as the system is moving nearly northwards close to coast, some parts of the wall cloud region continues to lie over land.
The system is likely to move nearly northwards parallel and close to south Andhra Pradesh coast and cross south Andhra Pradesh coast close to Bapatla during the next four hours as a Severe Cyclonic Storm with a maximum sustained wind speed of 90-100 kmph gusting to 110 kmph.
The bulletin said Storm surge of about 1-1.5 meter above astronomical tide likely to inundate south Coastal Andhra Pradesh districts at the time of landfall.
After landfall, while weakening gradually, the system will maintain the intensity of cyclonic storm for about 12 hours.
The wind speed will gradually decrease to 75-85 kmph gusting to 95 kmph by this evening and further gradually decrease becoming 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph by midnight tonight.
It said damage is expected over coastal districts of South Andhra Pradesh (Nellore, Tirupati Prakasam, Bapatla, Guntur, Krishna and West Godavari).
Light to moderate rainfall at most places and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy falls at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh & Yanam today.
Exceptionally heavy rainfall at one or two places is also likely over central districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh during the later part of the day and isolated heavy rainfall is likely over north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.
Light to moderate rainfall at most places with isolated heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is likely on Tuesday in Telangana, the bulletin added.
Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed the District Collectors, Superintendents of police and the officials of various departments to be on high alert for taking up relief measures.
Holding a review meeting virtually from the Camp Office in Tadepalli on Monday, he told them to treat the cyclone as a major challenge and take necessary steps to avoid loss of life and property as the cyclonic winds are expected to blow at a speed of over 110 km.
The Chief Minister said that special officers have been appointed for all cyclone affected districts besides releasing Rs. 2 crore each for rescue and relief works.
