Amaravati, Oct 28 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said no loss of life has been reported so far following Cyclone Arnab, crediting advance precautionary measures taken by the administration for preventing casualties.
Speaking during a teleconference with 32,000 personnel, including district collectors, the Chief Minister directed officials to minimise property damage and restore normalcy in cyclone-affected areas at the earliest.
“No loss of life has been reported so far due to Cyclone Arnab. The advance precautionary measures taken by the administrative machinery helped prevent casualties,” said Naidu in an official press release.
The CM instructed officials to clear roads blocked by fallen trees within two hours and ensure immediate removal of trees obstructing national highways. Also, he directed them to restore electricity supply in affected areas once strong winds subsided.
Naidu stressed the need to provide adequate food, drinking water and medical facilities at cyclone shelters and asked officials to prevent water from entering agricultural fields, protect horticultural crops and take measures to prevent breaches in tanks and canals.
The Chief Minister asked officials to prepare preliminary estimates of crop damage and keep National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel on standby.
Further, the officials were directed to make full use of the Manamitra system to address public grievances in cyclone-affected areas and ensure that complainants were informed about the action taken to resolve their issues.
Meanwhile, Kakinada Superintendent of Police (SP) G Bindu Madhav said, “Cyclone Arnab had significantly affected the district, uprooting a few hundred trees and fewer than 100 electric poles. However, no major damage has been reported and rainfall subsided after 1 am.”
Madhav said people were evacuated to relief camps as a precautionary measure and remained there due to the strong winds and roar of the storm between midnight and 1 am.
The Uppada road, running along the coast, has been completely washed away, he said, adding that rainfall was relatively low in the district with gusty winds causing the main impact.
(PTI News)
