Heavy rains battered several places in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh along the coast of Bay of Bengal as Cyclone Fani made landfall near Odisha’s Puri on Friday morning.
Andhra Pradesh was spared the impact as the cyclone brushed past its coast before making landfall. Moderate to heavy rains, ranging from five to 19cm, accompanied with heavy gales lashed the coastal areas in Srikakulam district.
Kanchili town recorded a maximum of 19.7 cm rain overnight and winds with a velocity of over 140 kilometres per hour were recorded at Ichapuram on the borders of Odisha.
“It is a big relief for us, as the cyclone spared the Andhra coast. Since we have already shifted thousands of people from the coastal villages to safer places, there was no human or cattle loss,” Srikakulam district collector J Niwas said.
“Except a few weak residential structures which collapsed in Ichapuram, there is no big property loss either,” Niwas added.
He also said that people, who were shifted to relief camps, would be allowed to leave later on Friday evening.
There were reports of a large number of electric poles falling down under the impact of the gales speeding up to 140kmph and power supply was disrupted in several places. Several tall trees were also uprooted due to the impact in some pockets.
The district administration restricted vehicular movement in coastal blocks since Thursday evening as a precaution.
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Crops of paddy, papaya, maize, coconut, mango and banana were damaged due to the impact. Officials said the crop and property loss is yet to be assessed.
The collector said Bahuda and Vamsadhara rivers could be flooded as Odisha might release huge amounts of water to manage the flows on account of rains after Cyclone Fani crosses the coast before noon.
According to a bulletin from Real Time Governance System control room in Andhra Pradesh secretariat, isolated moderate to heavy rainfall would continue in Srikakulam in the next 24 hours, while light to moderate rains could occur in Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts.