Cyclone Michaung: over 9,000 people evacuated away from Andhra coast before landfall

About 9,450 people were evacuated to safety as severe cyclonic storm Michaung is expected to make landfall close to Bapatla in south Andhra Pradesh coast within the next four hours.

As per the IMD, during landfall, Michaung is expected to bring gales with speeds of 90 – 100 km per hour, gusting up to 110 kmph.

The weather system over the west-central Bay of Bengal, running along and off the south Andhra Pradesh coast, is likely to move nearly northwards, parallel and close to the south Andhra Pradesh coast, Met Department said.

As of 8.30 am on Tuesday, the weather system had moved at a speed of 12 Kmph over the past six hours, positioning itself near latitude 15.2 degrees north and longitude 80.25 degrees east.

According to the latest bulletin from the IMD, the weather system situated 40 km northeast of Kavali, 80 km north to northeast of Nellore, 80 km south to southwest of Bapatla, and 140 km south to southwest of Machilipatnam.