Even as the coastal Andhra districts are struggling to recover from the aftereffects of Cyclone Nilam, the Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC) here sounded a warning on Sunday about the possibility of another cyclone hitting the coast shortly.
The low pressure over the east-central Bay of Bengal has turned into a deep depression and is likely to intensify into a cyclonic storm over the next 12 hours.
The depression lay centred about 500 km from Visakhapatnam city and 950 km from Chennai at 5 p.m. Sunday.
The Meteorological officials predicted that after intensifying into a cyclonic storm, the system would move west-southwestwards and hit the coast between south coastal Andhra Pradesh and north Tamil Nadu. “It is unlikely to have any adverse affects on the state over the next 48 hours.
However, isolated rain or thundershower may occur ove r coas tal Andhr a Pradesh,” a senior official of CWC said.
Officials have already hoisted first warning signal at all ports along the coast including at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada ports.
Fishermen have been advised to be cautious while venturing out into the sea.
Officials in the north coastal Andhra districts too have been asked to remain available round-the-clock.
The district administrations of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, have established control rooms in their collectorates. In case of any eventuality, people of Visakhapatnam can contact 1800-4250-0002 for help.