Helen loses steam, leaves behind trail of destruction

Hyderabad: Cyclone Helen completely dissipated on Saturday and was not even classified as a low pressure system.

Light rains, however, will continue till Sunday due to the moisture and humidity in the atmosphere that the system brought along, said Met department officials.

Meanwhile, the death toll of six did not go up in the state and the government said that paddy crops cultivated in about 3.5 lakh hectares were destroyed.

The Indian Meteorolo-gical Department (IMD) on Saturday evening said that the cyclone had completely dissipated, leaving behind just moisture. “The low pressure system which was there also dissipated completely. But the rainfall will continue till Sunday afternoon or so,” said Dr G. Sudhakar Rao, director, IMD Hyderabad.

He further warned about another deep de-pression in the South Andaman Sea that could develop into a cyclone. “There is another system that is developing. We are watching it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday reviewed the damage caused by Cyclone Helen and directed all departments to begin restoration works. Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty held a meeting with officials of all departments and asked them to complete the restoration works by Sunday.

Disaster Management officials estimated that paddy in final stages were damaged in about 3.5 lakh hectares and horticulture crops in East and West Godavari districts were damaged in about 8,700 hectares. They said that loss enumeration would be taken up immediately. Irrigation tanks were unaffected and only one road in East Godavari was damaged.

About 25,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas in Krishna, East Godavari, West Godavari, Guntur and Prakasam districts.

The official death toll also remained at six. Two deaths each were reported from Krishna and East Godavari districts and one each from Srikakulam and West Godavari districts. Nine boats with 63 fishermen that were stranded in Bay of Bengal off East Godavari district returned safely to shore.

However, several hundreds of houses were damaged and numerous villages remained in the dark. About 600 villages in the Konaseema region remained without power supply. Water supply was also affected.

Energy officials in East Godavari district said power would be restored by Sunday in most areas.

Losses in the Godavari districts were estimated at around Rs 1,000 crore. Almost half the standing paddy crop in East Godavari district was destroyed due to strong winds. Surprisingly though, the cyclone didn’t bring much rainfall but farmers fear losses due to discolouration of grains if the rain water doesn’t recede quickly.

In Krishna district, paddy crops over about two lakh acres were destroyed. Almost all the affected fields were in final stages of harvesting. Cotton farmers, however, breathed a sigh of relief as rainfall in Krishna district was only about an average of 20 cm.

On the other hand, Hyderabad received light rains on Saturday with the effect of the cyclone spreading to parts of Telangana and Rayalaseema. The city received about 0.3 cm of rainfall till evening. Traffic was affected in the morning in many areas due to slight water logging in some parts of the city. Officials predicted light rains in the city on Sunday as well.