Cyclone claims 11 lives in Andhra Pradesh

“In all,11 people lost their lives because of the heavy rains in the last 24 hours,” he told reporters after a high-level review meeting.

Heavy rains are expected in the coastal districts till tomorrow and the administration has already taken necessary steps to mitigate the damage,Rosaiah said.

He informed that the Prime Minister’s Office too was constantly monitoring the situation caused by Jal. “The PMO has been in regular touch with the state government and obtained updates on the cyclonic storm despite Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s pre-occupation with the visiting US President Barack Obama. It shows the concern of the Prime Minister towards the state,” he pointed out.

Rosaiah said officials of different departments have been asked to enumerate losses caused to public property,roads,houses and crops once water receded.

“We have already sent preliminary reports to the Centre on the extent of loss caused by heavy rains. We shall send a detailed report by November 20,” he said.

Replying to a question,Rosaiah agreed that the cyclone relief centres in coastal districts were in bad shape.

“The problem is with the maintenance of these centres.

We have asked the respective village panchayats and the local people to take care of the maintenance but they are reluctant,leaving the responsibility on the state government. It is practically not possible for us to maintain these cyclone relief centres. Thus,they are left in a bad shape,” he pointed out.

Rosaiah said the Centre was ready to sanction more number of cyclone relief centres in the coastal districts.

Meanwhile,Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao said that over 23,000 people who were evacuated from their villages were still lodged in 103 relief camps in Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore,Prakasam,Krishna,West Godavari and East Godavari districts. In all 59 mandals in six coastal districts and Chittoor in Rayalaseema were affected by Jal.

The state received an average of 19.9 mm rainfall under the impact of Jal cyclone.

Interestingly,the normally dry Anantapur district in

Rayalaseema received the maximum of 47.7 mm rainfall up to 10 am today followed by 44.7 mm in Visakhapatnam,42.5 in Chittoor,42.2 mm in Kadapa,40.2 mm in SPS Nellore and 27.7 mm in Prakasam.

The state government has put off the district collectors’ conference,scheduled to be held here on November 11 and 12,to November 26 and 27 in view of the cyclone,Rao said.