VIJAYAWADA: The administration of North Coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh are fully geared up to meet any eventuality arising out of Cyclone Fani which is expected to make a landfall.
The three North Coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram started receiving rains from Wednesday evening and the IMD has predicted heavy rains in the three districts from Thursday. With the sea condition turning rough, the authorities have asked fishermen not to venture into the sea.
According to IMD officials, gusty winds prevailed in North Coastal AP and the winds are likely to turn more strong by night. The latest IMD report shows that Fani moved northwestwards with a speed of about 10 kmph and lay centred at 430 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam.
In Srikakulam district, collector J Nivas, after a review with chief secretary LV Subramanyam through video conference facility, said they had opened as many as 48 rehabilitation centres in the district to shift people from cyclone-affected areas.
About nine NDRF teams an 10 SDRF teams have already arrived in the district. Similarly, about 45 fire and natural disaster teams and also 32 boats teams are also arriving in the district.
"We have identified as many as 117 riverside villages each along Nagavali and Vamsadhara rivers. About 6,000 electric poles have been kept ready to restore power supply immediately after the cyclone. Generators were put in at the drinking water schemes to ensure supply of drinking water even if the power supply is interrupted,'' Nivas said.
Essential commodities were made available at all the rehabilitation centres in the district. He suggested people keep biscuits, candles, food material and milk with them for the next few days besides keeping their mobiles fully charged.
In Visakhapatnam, the district administration made their preparations to handle Fani alerting all the mandal-level officers to be at their positions monitoring the situation. A help desk has been set up at the Vizag collectorate with officers to keep a tab on the situation in those areas which are likely to be affected by the cyclone.
About 15 swimmers are kept at the Beach Road for emergency and the marine police are warning the visitors not to enter into the beach area.
With gusty winds, officials alerted the advertisement companies to remove the hoardings at major junctions to avoid any road accidents.
Meanwhile, Vizianagaram district collector Hari Jawahar Lal said the district is expected to receive heavy rains and winds to the speed of up to 170-200 kmph.
A control room has been set up in the district with number 08922-276713/236974.