In less than a week, the Andhra Pradesh coast faces a second cyclone threat with the weather office issuing an alert yesterday.
Even before the authorities could count the extent of damage caused by last week’s Cyclone Helen, the coastal belt faces a fresh cyclone in the Bay of Bengal.
Christened Lehar, the severe cyclonic storm crossed the Andaman and Nicobar Islands near Port Blair early yesterday.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a “yellow message” to the state. The cyclone over southeast Bay of Bengal is centred 1,200km east-southeast off Machilipatnam, 1,140km east-southeast off Kainada and 1,060km southeast off Kalingapatnam.
“The system would intensify further gradually into a very severe cyclonic storm and would move west-northwestwards and cross Andhra Pradesh coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam near Kakinada around November 28 noon,” the IMD said in a bulletin issued yesterday afternoon.
Moderate rainfall at many places would commence from tomorrow afternoon over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and south coastal Odisha. The IMD has forecast heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy falls over north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.
Squally winds reaching 45-55kmph gusting to 65kmph would commence along and off Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts from tomorrow.
It would increase in intensity with gale wind speed reaching 170-180kmph gusting to 200kmph along and off coastal districts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh and adjoining south coastal Andhra Pradesh at the time of landfall.