Ongole: Michaung paralyses normal life

Ongole: Cyclone Michaung, which is expected to make landfall on Tuesday, disturbed the normal life in the coastal mandals of the Prakasam district on Monday. The district administration has made arrangements to face the cyclone by opening relief camps for the people living in the low-lying areas and villages near the sea coast. Meanwhile, the State government has appointed PS Pradyumna as the special officer to monitor the situation in the district.

The continuous drizzle almost paralyzed the normal life in the coastal mandals of the Prakasam district on Monday. The public is confined to indoors while the schools have already announced a holiday.

The business establishments and offices wear a deserted look. The transport services like RTC, trains and auto-rickshaws didn’t get passengers as the people postponed journeys and only those in an emergency were traveling.

District Collector A S Dinesh Kumar and SP Malika Garg explained the readiness of the district administration and the police and other rescue teams in bracing for Cyclone Michaung to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during a video-conference on Monday.

Explaining to the media, the Collector said that they were alerting the fishermen and the people living in the seashore villages over the intensity of the cyclone. They were shifted to safer places.

He said that they identified 47 cyclone relief centres in Kothapatnam, Singarayakonda, Tangutur, Ongole, and Naguluppalapadu mandals, and made arrangements for food, drinking water, medicines, and other needs for about 18,000 people. He said that they appointed deputy tahsildars and EOPRDs as in-charges for each of the relief camps to make sure all facilities were provided to the victims.

The Collector informed that the government allocated Rs 1 crore for the cyclone relief works and they sanctioned Rs 18 lakh to each tahsildar for making arrangements immediately. He said that the Chief Minister has instructed them to provide Rs 2,500 to each family when they leave for their homes from the relief camps. For the families, who have been living in water-logged areas for more than two days, the Collector said that they will be providing 25 kg rice, 1 kg red gram, 1 kgG of onions, 1 kg potato and 1 litre of edible oil through the ration dealers.

The collector also explained that they deployed special teams with police, R&B, and fire department personnel to clear fallen trees on roads, and kept ready 500 personnel from APCPDCL to keep the electricity supply continuing and avert mishaps.

SP Malika Garg said that the police department is working in tandem with the other departments to take up relief works during the cyclone.

She said that two teams of SDRF and district police SWAT have been stationed at Singarayakonda and Ongole to jump into the relief works immediately.

She warned the people and the fishermen not to venture into the sea or seashore as the tides are

turbulent.