Cyclone Gulab weakens: But leaves a trail of destruction all over

Amaravati: Cyclone Gulab, which crossed the Bay of Bengal coast near Kalingapatnam on Sunday night, weakened into a depression and caused widespread rains in several districts of Andhra Pradesh on Monday and also left a trail of destruction, as the death toll rose to two with a woman's death in house collapse in Srikakulam.

The Port City Visakhapatnam received a 30-year high rainfall of over 33.3 cm in 24 hours under the cyclone's impact and a fisherman died in Srikakulam. Transport system was badly hit in Visakhapatnam and several villages of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram. The Agency areas were badly affected.

Several streams were overflowing and tanks were breached. Electric poles fell on roads and trees got uprooted at many places in the north Andhra region. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced an ex gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of those killed in the cyclonic storm.

Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das visited Srikakulam, the district worst affected by Cyclone Gulab, and reviewed the rescue and relief operations. Over 1,500 persons were shifted to 38 relief camps and provided food.

In Vizianagaram district, agricultural crops in 13,122 hectares and horticultural crops in 291 hectares were damaged, according to Collector A Surya Kumari. Nine head of cattle also died in the cyclone. In Srikakulam district, the mobile network of BSNL failed as connectivity was lost.

As a result, officials and staff of several government departments who were deployed for the cyclone relief duties faced problems in communicating with officials.

The heavy rainfall and floods caused huge damage to maize, banana and cashew crops in several coastal mandals in Srikakulam district.

In Vizianagaram district, power supply was snapped in several villages due to uprooting of trees and electric poles due to heavy winds. Paddy in 14,000 hectares and horticulture crops in 300 hectares are affected by rains.

The East and West Godavari districts received heavy rainfall. East Godavari district received 76.2 mm average rainfall for the past 24 hours. Power supply was interrupted in some places due to snapping of power lines. Transport facilities to several villages in the Agency region were interrupted due to overflowing of hill streams and uprooting of trees.

In West Godavari district, transport facilities from Dwaraka Tirumala to Bhimadole were cut off due to overflowing streams. Several villages in the Agency region of Buttaiyigudem remained cut off due to breaches to tanks and overflowing of streams.

In Krishna and Guntur district, crops were damaged due to heavy rainfall. Several low-lying areas were inundated. In Vijayawada city residents of hill slopes are caught in a fear of landslides.

A house was damaged near the Tunnel centre in Chittinagar in Vijayawada city due to a landslide. Officials are making efforts to shift the residents of hill slopes to relief centres. Meanwhile, several low-lying areas in the city were waterlogged.