Lehar weakens into a depression as it crosses Andhra Pradesh coast

The intensity of Lehar has abated from a 'severe' cyclonic storm to a depression in the past 24 hours.

In the next 12 hours, Lehar is expected to move west-northwestwards and weaken further into a low pressure area, the weather department said.

Experts say the reason the intensity has come down is because of cold temperature, wind shear and also cold wind from central India. The storm has lost much of its energy.

The weather department had predicted that squally winds speed reaching 50-70 kmph would prevail along the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh. However, the wind speed hovered around 30-40 kmph when it crossed the coast.

Krishna, East Godavari, West Godavari, and Guntur are expected to be severely affected. Visakhapatnam, Prakasam, Nellore, Vizainagaram, Srikakulam are also likely to be affected.

More than 50,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying Coastal areas. All fishing operations have been suspended.

30 teams of National Disaster Response Force have been deployed in East Godavari, West Godavari, Guntur, Krishna and Visakhapatnam. A newly formed State Disaster Response Force consisting of 700 men drawn from Police, Fire services etc., have also been deployed for rescue operations.

Six  columns of Army are on stand-by in Andhra Pradesh. The Coast Guard, Coastal Security wing, Marine Police are also on alert. Four helicopters are on stand-by in Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.

Lehar it the third storm to threaten the Andhra coast in a month. Helen had crossed the coast at Machilipatnam last week, killing six people and damaging crops over four lakh hectares.

Phailin, which hit Odisha-Andhra coast last month, had caused some crop damage and claimed one life in Srikakulam district bordering Odisha. However, the subsequent heavy rains and floods claimed 58 lives and damaged crops over 13 lakh hectares.