Cyclone Asani: Rains, gusty winds in coastal AP; flights cancelled for 2nd day

Visakhapatnam: The changing track of Cyclone Asani has forced the officials to keep their fingers crossed in Andhra Pradesh even as the authorities in Odisha heaved a sigh of relief following revised prediction by the Indian Meteorological Department.

The cyclone, which triggered moderate to heavy rain and gusty winds in various parts of coastal Andhra caused power outage, dislocation in communications due to falling of trees and uprooting of electric and telephone poles, damage to crops mainly mango, sugarcane and banana plantations.

The severe storm weakened into a cyclonic storm and was found in the afternoon about 40 km southeast of Machilipatnam near Vijayawada and 50 km south-southwest of Narsapur. IMD in a tweet stated that the cyclone was expected to move north eastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts till evening of Wednesday.

Visakhapatnam Airport Director K Srinivasa Rao said all the flights from IndiGo, Air India, AirAsia and SpiceJet arriving and departing from Visakhapatnam were cancelled for the second consecutive day. However, Scoot Airlines was scheduled to operate its late night flight from Visakhapatnam to Singapore.

Weathermen predict that cyclone was expected to cross near Antarvedi around midnight and after weakening into a depression would drift back into the sea somewhere near Yanam/Kakinada. The impact would be severe in north coastal Andhra. It is unlikely to make a landfall as predicted earlier, according to indications. IMD said it will recurve and reemerge somewhere off the north coastal Andhra by night.

Following change in its course, which was originally predicted to move towards the Odisha coast, the IMD issued a red alert for the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh. Heavy rainfall and gusty winds were predicted.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a videoconference with the collectors and SPs of various districts and directed them to stay on high alert and tackle any emergency. The Navy, NDRF and paramilitary forces have also been deployed to take up work in the affected areas.

The condition of the sea was rough throughout the day with very powerful tidal waves seen at Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Machilipatnam and other areas. The government in AP and Odisha have kept the Navy and other men and material ready to take up relief and rescue operations as and when required. Fishermen were debarred from venturing into the sea for the past few days after issuing a cyclone alert.

Police were seen announcing on public address systems on the cyclone by requesting them to stay indoors, shift to relief camps from low-lying areas and move out only for important work. The streets were deserted.

Cargo ships bound for all the ports including Visakhapatnam Port Authority, have not allowed berthing due to the threat of cyclonic storm Asani for the second day on Wednesday.