Helen flattens houses, trees in several coastal villages in Godavari districts
23 Nov 2013 4:00 PM IST
Electricity supply to major parts of West Godavari district cut off post cyclone Helen.
NDRF personnel try to cut the fallen tree under the influence of the storm Helen at Katrenikona in East Godavari district on Friday. -DC
Rajahmundry: Cyclonic storm Helen left a trail of devastation during its landfall near Machilipatnam as heavy rainfall accompanied with squally winds devastated several crops, mainly paddy, blew off the roofs of several houses and petty shops, uprooted trees and electric poles in several coastal villages in Godavari districts on Friday.
In Amalapuram division, people living in several coastal villages of mandals including Sakhinetipalli, Malikipuram, Mamidikuduru, Uppalaguptam, Katrenikona and other areas suffered the worst impact of the storm. Heavy gales flattened the standing paddy crop in thousands of acres of land while huge trees and electric poles were uprooted. As many as 120 personnel from National Disaster Response Force were divided into three teams and sent to the severely affected areas to clear the roads and restore vehicular traffic.
Over 3,000 villagers from the affected villages along the coast were shifted to 26 relief centres and are being provided with food and water.
Out of 30 fishermen who went for fishing earlier, 23 were found to be safe while seven missing fishermen also came into contact with the officials and they are heading to the shore.
Amalapuram RDO Ch. Priyanka said, “No loss of life was reported so far due to the storm and two deaths reported at Katrenikona were natural deaths as both of them were old.”
In West Godavari, as many as 37 villages in eight mandals suffered the wrath of the storm and mainly two coastal mandals of Mogaltur and Narasapuram received the maximum impact. According to district authorities, nearly 4,908 people from the coastal villages were evacuated to 15 relief centres and 71 medical camps are set up to provide medical care to the people.
Collector Siddarth Jain inspected the relief centres at Peda Mynivanilanka and Vemuladeevi East and Gondhi Gadapa and enquired about the food and other amenities being provided to the affected people. He also inspected the affected paddy fields at Vemuladeevi, Lakshmaneswaram and other villages and assured to take up proper enumeration and provide relief to them.
The collector also assured to make efforts to reschedule the farm loans of the farmers whose crops were lost in the storm.
Hundreds of villages are plunged into darkness in both the districts as electric poles were uprooted and power supply was disrupted. The EPDCL authorities are making effort to restore power supply.
NEXT: Four storm-related deaths in E Godavari
Four storm-related deaths in E Godavari
Rajahmundry: As many as four storm related deaths were reported from several parts in East Godavari on Friday. A woman identified as Yelipe Ankalu, 30, hailing from Indira Nagar of Gollavilli panchayat of Uppalaguptam mandal came out of her house in the early hours on Friday to attend nature’s call. A huge tree fell in front of her house under the influence of the heavy gales as she stepped out of the house. She suffered cardiac arrest and died.
Two aged women died at Katrenikona mandal. In the first case, the woman identified as Malladi Venkayamma, 65, hailing from Pallipalem located in the outskirts of Nadavapalli village came out to attend nature’s call. She slipped and fell on the ground and died. In another case, Thadi Kasturibhai, 68, hailing from Donthikurru village went to the bathroom in the early hours on Friday. Under the influence of the heavy gales, a tree fell on the bathroom trapping her inside. She died on the spot.
A fisherman hailing from Uppada near Kakinada identified as Kare Jagannahdam, 25, suffered electric shock and died. A group of fishermen from Uppada went for fishing into the sea on November 18 and they were struck up in the storm Helen. However, they managed to reach the shore at Machilipatnam of Krishna district. The fisherman in an attempt to anchor the boat suffered electric shock and died.
( Source : dc )
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