Gulab impact: Heavy rains batter many districts in AP
Cyclone Gulab, which crossed the Bay of Bengal coast near Kalingapatnam on Sunday night, weakened into a depression and caused widespread rains in several districts of Andhra Pradesh on Monday and also left a trail of destruction, as the death toll rose to two with a woman’s death.
The port city Visakhapatnam received a 30-year high rainfall of over 33.3cm in 24 hours under the cyclone’s impact and left a woman dead on Monday, taking the toll to two since Sunday.
On Sunday, a fisherman was killed in the cyclonic storm in Bay of Bengal in Srikakulam district.
Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy reviewed the situation with collectors of the rain-affected districts and directed them to step up relief works.
The chief minister announced an ex-gratia relief
of Rs500,000 each to the kin of those killed in the cyclonic storm.
In Vizianagaram district, agricultural crops in 13,122 hectares and horticultural crops in 291 hectares were
damaged, according to collector A Surya Kumari.
Nine head of cattle also died in the cyclone.
In Visakhapatnam, boulders fell on a house, causing its collapse and killing a
woman, district collector A Mallikarjuna said.
The collector, along with Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation Commissioner G Srujana, inspected the rain-affected
areas in the city and supervised the relief operations. Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das visited Srikakulam, the district worst affected by Gulab, and reviewed the rescue and relief operations. —