Alert Sounded As Cyclone Ditwah Reaches South Andhra Today
AP sets up control rooms as Orange and Red alerts issued for several districts
Visakhapatnam: Cyclonic storm Ditwah, prevailing over coastal Sri Lanka and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal, is slowly moving northwards. It is centred about 30 km west-southwest of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 120 km northwest of Batticaloa (Sri Lanka), and 300 km south-southeast of Karaikal, 410 km south-southeast of Puducherry and 510 km south-southeast of Chennai in India.
Cyclone Ditwah is very likely to move north-northwestwards across Sri Lanka coast and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal and reach southwest Bay of Bengal near north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts by early morning of Sunday, November 30.
With forecasts of heavy rains, AP government has decided to set up control rooms and deploy disaster response teams to deal with any eventuality arising out of Cyclone Ditwah.
Home minister V. Anitha on Friday directed collectors and superintendents of police to remain vigilant, as heavy rains are predicted over parts of Rayalaseema and south coastal Andhra Pradesh between Saturday and Sunday.
An Orange alert (heavy to very heavy rainfall) has been issued for Chittoor, Tirupati and Nellore districts of AP on Saturday, November 29, when heavy rainfall is expected over Prakasam, YSR Kadapa and Annamayya districts.
A Red alert (extremely heavy rainfall) has been issued for Chittoor, Tirupati, Annamayya and Nellore districts on Sunday, November 30, when heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected over YSR Kadapa and Prakasam districts. Sri Sathya Sai, Anantapur, Nandyal, Palnadu, Bapatla, Guntur, Krishna and NTR districts will experience heavy rainfall on Sunday.
Squally wind speeds reaching 50–60 kmph gusting to 70 kmph are likely to prevail. They are very likely to increase further, becoming gales with speeds reaching 60–70 kmph gusting to 80 kmph along and off south coastal Andhra Pradesh on Saturday and Sunday.
