Cyclonic storm ‘JAL’ likely to further intensify

The severe cyclonic storm, ‘JAL’ remained practically stationary and lay centered over southwest Bay of Bengal at 450 km southeast of Chennai and 600 km southeast of Nellore. It would intensify further, move west-northwestwards and cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coasts between Puducherry and Nellore close to Chennai by tonight. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Government has begun evacuation operations in nearly 300 villages in Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna and Chittoor districts as the severe cyclonic storm- ‘Jal’ is likely to hit the south Andhra coast tonight. Bracing up to tackle the impending Cyclonic Storm, the state Government has been taking all measures to prevent loss of life that might be caused by the Cyclone on its land fall.
The highly vulnerable habitations in these five districts are being evacuated as a preventive measure as the storm is likely to trigger tidal waves several meters high, causing inundation of low lying areas on the cyclone path. Heavy rain fall of up to 25 cms coupled with wind speeds of over 140 km per hour is expected. Round the clock Control Rooms have been set up at all the vulnerable coastal districts while special officers are monitoring the rescue operations.