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Cyclone Asani has changed its direction and is going to touch the nearby Kakinada coast, said the Visakhapatnam cyclone warning centre director Sunanda adding that after touching the Kakinada coast, it will come again to sea between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam.
"Cyclone warning and a red alert have been given to Andhra Pradesh. Till yesterday, the track was showing a northwest direction but in the last 6 hours, it is moving towards the West-Northwest direction. So, it's very near to our Andhra Pradesh coast," Sunanda said. She added that earlier the India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials predicted that it will take a turn in the Bay of Bengal but, unexpectedly the cyclone is going to reach and touch the Kakinada coast. "In the coming hours, it will move towards NW direction and almost near Andhra Pradesh coast. Tomorrow morning it will change its direction and move in the North-Northeast direction and touch the Kakinada coast-east Godavari coast-and then move along parallel to Visakhapatnam coast in NE direction," said Sunanda. The official further said that due to the cyclone effect, IMD has given danger signal number 10 to the Kakinada, Ganagavaram and Bhimunipatanm ports. It also gave a red warning alert to the districts of Andhra Pradesh including Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur for heavy rains accompanied by wind. With this, IMD has also alerted the people about damage and power cut due to wind and heavy rains. It stated that there is a possibility of damage to thatched huts, minor damage to kutcha and minor damage to Pucca roads. Some crops of paddy crops, bananas, papaya trees, and orchards might also get damaged due to the cyclone. Some areas might experience power cuts and a halt in communication lines as the branches of trees might fall on them damaging the lines, alerted IMD. It suggested to people to stay in a safer place and avoid going to places with severe water-logging problems and asked to abide by the traffic rules and advisory issued in the regard along with keeping a track of the traffic congestion before leaving the house. During the past six hours, the severe cyclonic storm 'Asani', over West-central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 7 km per hour during past six hours and lay today over the west-central and adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal at 330 km southeast of Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), 350 km south-southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), 510 km south-southwest of Gopalpur (Odisha) and 590 km south-southwest of Puri (Odisha), informed IMD. (ANI)
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