With cyclone Michaung laying 20 km away from the Nellore coast by Monday morning (10.00 am), as many as nine mandals were devastated with the uprooting of trees, and electrical poles, while large swathes of paddy fields were submerged. As the cyclone is expected to make landfall at Bapatla, 130 km from Kavali, an orange alert is issued all over Nellore district, and the official machinery is put on alert.
From midnight till early morning, the mandals of Nellore and Kovvur received downpours, recording over 27 cm of rain. Vehicular movement from Nellore towards Tirupati and Vijayawada came to a grinding halt at various points on the Grand Trunk road. Officials said the Indukuripeta mandal bore the brunt of the cyclone as it severely damaged the rural roads and played havoc with the prawn farming units. The wind speed had crossed over 80 km along the coastal villages in the district, and the intensity of cold was higher in the region.
Normal life was paralyzed in Nellore city and Kavali town as the rainwaters entered the households in several low-lying areas. The police and revenue officials blocked the roads at various subways in Nellore City towards the railway station and Atmakuru bus stand. The localities along the Penna River, including Harinatha Puram, Kapatipalem, and the surroundings of Ranganatha Swamy temples, witnessed power shut down several times from Monday midnight.
The Somasila reservoir in the district received full inflows and its storage touched 30 TMC ft by Monday night. The irrigation officials released 10,915 cusecs of water downstream to prevent breaches to the bunds. Heavy winds uprooted trees and power poles in Udayagiri and Atmakuru assembly constituencies. The Brahmeswaram culvert was damaged due to the cyclone impact in Duttaluru mandal, while the Manneru rivulet in Atmakuru mandal was in spate.
The revenue officials rushed to the Girijan Colony in Atmakuru as the locality was submerged on Monday night. The officials deployed earthmovers to pump out the rainwater from households.
Meanwhile, Collector M. Hari Narayanan appealed to the public not to move out till Tuesday evening given heavy winds and downpours with only a few hours left before the landfall of the Michaung in the neighborhood of Nellore district.
