Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday, December 8, directed the Collectors of various districts to be vigilant in view of the cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal. The Chief Minister reviewed the cyclone situation in the Bay of Bengal at a meeting in Amaravati. He said that adequate precautions should be taken by the authorities reviewing the impact of the storm from time to time.
The officials informed the Chief Minister that due to the impact of the storm, rain was forecast in Nellore, Tirupati, Chittoor and other districts. Jagan asked the officials of the agriculture department to create awareness about the precautions to be taken by the farmers and to be helpful to them.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cyclonic storm Mandous lay centred at 8.30 am on Thursday about 300 km east-southeast of Karaikal and about 550 km southeast of Chennai. "It is very likely to move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coast between Puducherry and Sriharikota with a maximum sustained wind speed of 65-75 kmph gusting to 85 kmph around midnight of December 9," said an IMD bulletin.
Under the impact of the cyclone, heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places is likely over the next three days in Prakasam, Nellore and Tirupati districts in south coastal Andhra Pradesh and in Chittoor, Annamayya and Kadapa districts in Rayalaseema. Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority said that alert messages have been sent to over a million subscribers through a common alert protocol.
Authorities have been directed to regularly monitor the progress of the cyclonic storm Five teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and four teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) were kept on standby for rescue and relief operations.