Cyclone Helen makes landfall in coastal Andhra Pradesh, 7 dead

Rainfall at most places with isolated heavy to very heavy falls would occur over remaining districts of south coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalseema and isolated heavy to very heavy falls over Telangana during next 48 hours.



Earlier, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Friday reviewed the situation with the chief secretary and other officials in Hyderabad and directed them to take all precautionary measures, especially in Krishna and Guntur districts.

A control room to monitor the situation has been opened at the state secretariat in Hyderabad. The control room numbers are 040-23456005, 23451043.

Krishna District Collector Raghunandan Rao said a holiday was declared for all educational institution in coastal areas.

He said 10 relief camps were opened for people evacuated from low-lying areas, and over 5,000 people were already shifted to them. Sixty personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were deployed for rescue and relief operations.

A control room in Krishna district collector's office was opened. Its telephone numbers are 08672-252572 08672-251077

Helen has hit the Andhra coast even before the state could recover from the massive damages caused by Phailin and heavy rain in October.

Andhra Pradesh has nearly 1,000-km long coastline and the nine districts face cyclone threats every year, especially between September and November.