Cyclone Nilam to hit TN, Andhra today 1.5 Lakh People Evacuated From Coastal Areas

Visakhapatnam/Chennai: 

Cyclone Nilam is expected to make a landfall between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday afternoon or evening, bringing with it heavy torrential rains in the coastal region. Squally winds with speeds reaching 45-55kmph will hit southern Andhra Pradesh and the gust could hit a speed of 65kmph off northern Tamil Nadu by Wendesday morning. 
    No loss to life or property was reported after heavy rains lashed coastal Andhra on Tuesday evening. The state government set up control rooms to monitor Nilam's path. About 1.5 lakh people along the coast have beenevacuated to safer areas. 
    Wind speed is expected to increase gradually as Nilam nears the coast. The sea will be very rough along Nellore and Prakasam districts and fishermen have been told not to venture into the waters. According to the IMD, the cyclonic storm is located 450km south-southeast of Chennai. 
    Most of Tamil Nadu received heavy rain from Sunday night. In Nagapattinam district, two fishermen went missing at sea, and about 25,000 fishermen have stayed on shore after the administration issued a cyclone alert. Heavy rain was recorded in Tiruvarur, Trichy, Thanjavur, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Karur and Pudukkottai districts, and in the Union Territory of Puducherry. Cyclone shelters and relief centres are being prepared in Puducherry. 
    The Chennai port has issued a level 7 danger warning — warnings are measured on a scale of one to 11, with 11 denoting failure of communication due to a cyclone. Nagapattinam port has put out a level 5 warning and the same warning signal was also hoisted at Puducherry and Cuddalore ports. 
    The Chennai Port Trust sent 10 vessels to the outer seas following the cyclone alert on Tuesday. "It is a precautionary decision to send all vessels to the outer seas during bad weather to avoid collisions and damage to the port infrastructure," said Chennai Port Trust chairman Atulya Mishra. 
    "Rainfall will increase from scattered to heavy and extremely heavy in both AP and TN. The rains will lash for the next 36 hours," said M Mohapatra, director of IMD's cyclone warning division in Hyderabad. He said when the cyclone makes landfall, there would be a surge of tidal waves up to a height of 1 metre. 
NDMA issues cyclone alert 
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued an alert regarding Cyclone Nilam, which is likely to lash parts of TN, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry by Wednesday. It has put two battalions of the National Disaster Response Force — one in Andhra's Guntur and another in Chennai — on stand by to meet any eventuality. TNN

Fishing boats beached on the Bay of Bengal coast in Chennai on Tuesday. Southern states have asked fishermen not to venture into the sea