Amaravati: Life has come to a complete standstill in the coastal Andhra Pradesh due to Cyclone Montha. Two persons died, thousands of houses were damaged and standing crops in around 87,000 acres were reportedly destroyed due to its impact.
A total of 18 lakh people living in 1,434 villages of 249 mandals and 48 municipalities have been affected due to cyclone Montha in AP.
As per reports, 380 km long panchayat raj roads, 2,294 km roads and buildings department’s roads, and 14 bridges were damaged in AP.
Cyclone Montha crossed Andhra Pradesh’s coast in the early hours of Wednesday, October 29, leaving a trail of destruction.
Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stated that cyclone Montha, which crossed Andhra Pradesh’s coast in the early hours of Wednesday, October 29, has passed over Narsapuram between Kakinada and Machilipatnam.
It is expected to move north-westwards over Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and South Chhattisgarh.
As the day progressed, it gradually weakened from a severe cyclonic storm to a cyclonic storm.
Floods, crops damage: Cyclone Montha marred with chaos
Torrential rains have caused streams, canals and ponds to overflow, causing inundation of many villages and low-lying areas in towns falling in the coastal districts of AP. Trees and electricity poles were uprooted due to the strong winds.
Andhra Pradesh agriculture minister, K Atchennaidu, stated that in Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district alone, paddy crop spread over 20,000 acres has been damaged.
Heavy rains in Vijayawada inundated low-lying areas. Twenty people trapped in the floodwaters near a shrine located in Bapatla district were rescued.
Traffic came to a standstill as floodwaters reached the Kolkata-Chennai National Highway (NH-16) near Thimmapuram in Palnadu district.
Authorities have closed the Srisailam Ghat road due to landslides. Three shops were destroyed near Pathala Ganga in Srisailam in the landslide which happened in the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.
As floodwaters entered two tunnels of the Veligonda project in Prakasam district, 200 staff working there were safely evacuated.
In Nandyal district, the Kundu River, Maddileru, and Chama streams have been overflowing. Vehicular movement is severely disrupted in many places.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are actively removing the uprooted trees and poles. Authorities have been trying to restore the power supply in the affected areas.
As part of the rescue efforts, 3,175 pregnant women were shifted to various hospitals and 2,130 health camps were conducted in the affected villages.
Around 380 trees which had collapsed on the roads were removed by the disaster response personnel.
AP CM conducts aerial survey in Konaseema
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu visited Udelarevu in Konaseema district and inspected the damage caused by the cyclone. He conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas.
Later, he held a teleconference with the ministers and district collectors and made key suggestions on the relief efforts. He said that the damage was reduced only due to effective measures taken over the last four to five days.
The officials informed him that 87,000 acres of crop loss has been estimated, out of which over 59,000 acres of loss was estimated only in paddy crop. The officials informed that 78,796 farmers were impacted due to the crop damage, and that 42 cattle died during the floods.
They also noted that it was just a primary estimate, and after a complete enumeration is done, the figures could go up further.
The chief minister directed the agriculture scientists and officials to speed-up the enumeration process and ascertain the exact losses, and also directed the officials concerned to restore the electricity lines and roads damaged due to the cyclone.
He also directed the officials concerned to put immediate emphasis on completing the sanitation works, and providing drinking water, while preventing contamination of water in the areas affected by the cyclone.
Also expressing his displeasure over colonies getting flooded in Ongole town of Prakasam district due to floods, Naidu cautioned the district collector Raja Babu not to repeat the same performance again.
Immediate relief
A total of 1.16 lakh people have been shifted to 1,209 rehabilitation centres, and the government has taken a key decision to support them immediately.
The chief minister has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh per head for the kin of those who died in the cyclone.
Those who have taken shelter in the rehabilitation centers were being provided with financial assistance of Rs 1,000 per head. If there are more than three members in a family, a maximum of Rs 3,000 is provided.
The government has issued orders to distribute 25 kg of rice (50 kg for handloom weavers and fishermen), 1 kg of dal, 1 litre of palm oil, and 1 kg of onions, potatoes and sugar to the families of fishermen free of cost.
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