VIJAYAWADA: Heavy rains lashed part of Nellore and Tirupati districts under the impact of severe cyclone 'Asani' on Tuesday morning. In Visakhapatnam and other districts in North coastal Andhra Pradesh, it was overcast skies, gale winds, and light to moderate rains.
At 8:30 a.m. the severe cyclone was reported to be moving at 10 kmph and located 300 km south of Visakhapatnam. It is very likely to move nearly north-westwards till Tuesday night and thereafter, it is very likely to recurve north-north eastwards and move towards Northwest Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts. It is likely to weaken gradually into a Cyclonic Storm during the subsequent 24 hours
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy falls over north coastal AP and heavy rainfall at isolated places over coastal Odisha from Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, flight services have been disrupted for the second day at Visakhapatnam airport on Tuesday. The decision to cancel flights was taken following discussions had with stakeholders on Monday as part of precautionary measures to be taken in view of Cyclone 'Asani', said airport director Srinivasa Rao.
He said all Indigo flights (23 Arrivals plus 23 Departures ) were cancelled and Air Asia flights I5 711/712 DEL-VTZ-DEL. I5 1452/1453 BLR-VTZ-BLR is cancelled. He said the decision about the cancellation of the remaining /evening flights will be conveyed later. All Air India (2 arrivals and 2 departures) are cancelled. SpiceJet is yet to convey about the cancellation of their flight operations, as their flights are at late evening, he said.
On the other hand, as many as 73 teams were kept ready by EPDCL to restore the power supply in case of an emergency situation.
Earlier, a PTI report said that severe cyclonic storm 'Asani' in the Bay of Bengal has hit flight operations with several airlines cancelling flights in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam and Tamil Nadu's Chennai on Tuesday.
Heavy overnight rains lashed Chennai and its neighbourhoods on Tuesday, bringing respite to citizens from the scorching May temperatures.
Sharp showers that started in the wee hours of Tuesday continued in the morning here, impacting office-goers, even as some low-lying areas suffered due to water stagnation.
Heavy rains lashed other parts of the state including Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Erode districts.
Visakhapatnam International Airport director Srinivas said that IndiGo has cancelled 23 flights, both arrivals, and departures, citing bad weather.
"Four Air Asia flights also stand cancelled due to bad weather at Vizag for the day," he added.
At the Chennai airport, 10 flights including those from Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Jaipur and Mumbai have been cancelled.