Heavy rain is expected to lash the Andhra Pradesh coast on December 8 and 9, as a well-marked low pressure area has developed over southeast Bay of Bengal and adjoining south Andaman Sea.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that it was very likely to become a depression in the next 24 hours, and a deep depression in the 24 hours after that.
The IMD also said that it was very likely that the weather system would move towards north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh during the next three days.
"A few days back, the system was set to hit districts in south coastal Andhra Pradesh like Krishna and Nellore. Now, it is likely to hit north coastal Andhra Pradesh and only touch south coastal Andhra Pradesh. There are very little chances of it becoming a cyclone, but it will reach the deep-depression stage," Y K Reddy, director of IMD, Hyderabad told the Times of India.
Meanwhile, Visakhapatnam District Collector Pravin Kumar directed mandal-level officers to be on alert and take precautionary measures to minimise the damage in view of the IMD's warning, The Hindu reported.
The Collector asked officials to ensure that harvested paddy be covered carefully with tarpaulin sheets to prevent crop damage, while also taking other measures to ensure that there was no water logging in the fields, the report adds.
In yet another department, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday asked fishermen in both eastern and western coasts of India, not to venture out to the sea for the next three days.
Asking people not to panic in case of a cyclone alert, the NDMA said that fishermen along the Andhra Pradesh coast should not venture into sea from 6 to 8 December, and said that the National Crisis Management Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, had been reviewing the rescue and relief operations in areas hit by Cyclone Ockhi, PTI reported.