Cyclone Asani\'s remnant hovers over Machilipatnam coast

Visakhapatnam: The depression (remnant of cyclonic storm Asani) is presently hovering over the Machilipatnam coast, as per the latest weather updates.

It is likely to hover around the same region and weaken further into a well marked low pressure by Thursday afternoon.

Ojili in Nellore district received 137mm of rainfall, the state's highest under the influence of the cyclone in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning.

Light to moderate rains are continuing in the same region due to the presence of the weakened system over the land, said the weathermen from the IMD.

Cyclone Asani triggers heavy rain, crosses Andhra Pradesh

The deep depression, the remnant of cyclone Asani, crossed Andhra Pradesh between Machilipatnam and Narsapur coasts on Wednesday night. It triggered heavy rainfall in most areas it reached out to.

This caused the suspension of 72 flight services at two airports – Vizag and Vijayawada.

YSRC party MPTC, Tumpala Kasubabu from Anakapalli district, died as a coconut tree fell on him while he was riding his bike, due to the heavy winds under the influence of the storm.

“The cyclone’s remnant moved with a speed of 6kmph while crossing the AP coast with a wind speed of maximum 75kmph during 7pm on Wednesday. It later took a direction towards the sea to further weaken by Thursday morning,” said AP Disaster Management Authority director Ambedkar.

He said helpline numbers 1070 and 18004250101 will be available for the public round-the-clock.

As many as 72 flights including at Vizag and 15 at Vijayawada of different service providers for destinations like Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and New Delhi were suspended.

A few flights have been allowed to operate from late evening on Wednesday when the cyclone weakened into a depression before crossing the Andhra coast between Machilipatnam and Narsapur coasts along the Bay of Bengal.

According to the airport officials, all Indigo flights (22 arrivals and 22 departures) were suspended, as also eight Air Asia, four Air India and one SpiceJet at Vizag airport.

“Scoot Airlines decided to operate their international flight T580/TR581 Singapore-Vizag-Singapore as it is running late at night,” Vizag airport director Srinivasa Rao said.

On the other hand, operation of 15 flights to various destinations was suspended, of which 14 flights belonged to Indigo while one was from Air India.

However, four flights were allowed to operate -- one to Delhi and another to Hyderabad, while one unscheduled aircraft arrived and one international aircraft from Muscat also landed at the airport.

Vijayawada airport director Rama Rao said, “We will do a review based on the latest weather report at night and decide whether to allow the operation of flights from the airport on Thursday. However, we are planning to operate all flights including 18 arrivals and 18 departures from the airport assuming that the weather condition will be good on Thursday.”

The departments of Agriculture, Energy and Horticulture were asked to start enumerating the losses due to the storm. During a review with officials at the Nellore Collectorate, agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan advised the officials to coordinate with all line departments and take steps to prevent loss of life and property.