Under the influence of Laila Cyclone, the districts of Visakahapatnam, East and West Godavari experienced heavy rains on Wednesday.
Cautionary signal No.7 (the highest intensity) has been hoisted at all Andhra ports as the depression over the Bay of Bengal turned into a cyclonic storm and lay centred 460 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam.It is likely to cross the coast between Ongole and Visakhapatnam by early hours of Thursday.
The Government machinery was put under high alert to meet any eventuality. After nearly two decades, the Coastal Andhra Pradesh is experiencing a cyclonic storm in the month of May.
The administration in Andhra Pradesh's coastal region is put on high alert and National Disaster Response Force from neighbouring state of Orissa was called in for rescue operations.
The National Disaster Response Force from Bhubaneshwar is stationed at Visakhapatnam will look after the rescue operations in the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari.
The coastal towns in all the three districts recorded a rainfall of nearly 64 mm. The cyclonic rain on Wednesday morning, upset the normal life.Control rooms were setup in all the district headquarters.
In East Godavari about 20 fishermen were reported missing while in West Godavari district breaches occurred in many fishing tanks causing heavy loss to fish-tank owners.
All the low-lying areas have been inundated with rainwater. The rescue teams evacuated the people from the low-lying areas as a precautionary measure. Many electric poles were razed to the ground due to the gale winds which blew with a velocity of 70-75 kmph.