Thursday afternoon, between 16:30 and 17:30 IST, the cyclone Laila violently struck the coast of Andhra Pradesh. After changing its course several times in the recent hours, the first tropical cyclone of the season continues its run on the Indian east coast causing extensive damage in the area. Laila is the most severe cyclone that hit India over the last 14 years.

Accompanied by gusty winds at 125 km / h, Laila has hit the Indian territory about fifty kilometers at the south of the town of Bapatla. Approximately 50,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh. The coasts of the state have the appearance of an Apocalypse day, trees littering the roads, electrical cables pulled up, flooded an cut off electricity villages, that is what State of Andhra Pradesh looked like in late afternoon on Thursday as gusts of wind and torrential rain continued to fall on the region.

The activities of daily living are being paralyzed in the region as all roads and rail. This afternoon, almost the entire bridge towers of mobile phone networks had been uprooted by Laila along the coast causing anxiety among residents of affected areas, awaiting news of their loved ones. The districts of Prakasam, Guntur, Nellore, Krishna and Godavari East and West would be most affected by the cuts of communication networks. The authorities can still continue their relief work and rescue using radio networks and the satellite phones distributed Wednesday.

In six districts, 11 towns and 1500 villages are currently without electricity. In nine districts, buses and helicopters ready for rescue missions and evacuation ones were dispatched throughout the afternoon. About 120 relief camps have been opened Machlipatanam, a city that would be initially affected first, and remains in the trajectory of Laila. Between 777 and 800 villages, according to sources of the state administration, have been evacuated over the past 24 hours.Of the 122 fishermen reported missing yesterday, 55 are still missing the call. The Chief Minister, Dr. Rosiah appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to request additional emergency aid, the army already mobilized being overwhelmed by events and the number of evacuations.

North areas that are not yet affected now suffer heavy rain with recordings ranging from 25-35 cm of precipitation. The effects of Laila should continue between 12 and 36 hours in Andhra Pradesh, and torrential rains will continue to fall during the 12 hours after the cyclone.

This morning the coast of West Bengal have been placed on alert and the state is already preparing evacuation plans. On the coastline of Orissa and West Bengal, all the day long announcements were diffused by loudspeakers urging fishermen especially not to go to sea or come ashore. In the riskiest areas of West Bengal, people were warned of the possibility of evacuation in emergency. Last year, Aila had hit the Sunderbans area causing salinization of land and making them unusable. The rural and extremely poor area is struggling to recover from damage and people are very anxious about the likely arrival of Laila in the coming days. The government has put in place precautionary measures and distributed 9,000 tons of rice and 450,000 tarpaulin sheets in tarpaulin.

An alert has been launched in the districts of South and North 24-Parganas, East Midnapore, Howrah (where Kolkata is located) and Hooghly. The West Bengal has opened a control room in the building of its government and in the headquarters of six districts. The Government of West Bengal as the Andhra Pradesh one, is trying to be prepare for natural disasters that might strike his state in the coming days. The South 24-Parganas district, West Bengal, had been one of the most severely area affected by Aila in March 2009. In Orissa, heavy rains are expected in the next two coming days.

The storm seems to weaken but signs announcing that a new phenomenon could lead to doubling its intensity as it enters the Gulf of Bengal by the end of the week, once crossed Andhra Pradesh . Laila could therefore be intensified.

Two trajectories are assumed. After being released in Andhra Pradesh, Laila could continue its course along the Indian coast in Orissa and browsing the West Bengal before continuing on to Bangladesh. But Laila could also move back to the Bay of Bengal before redirecting to the south of Orissa and up the coast to West Bengal. The first hypothesis is hoped, Laila will loose water by the rains and lose intensity, while causing less damage in its wake. While the second hypothesis Laila orienting towards the sea, would enable him to "recharge" and re-emerge in the Gulf of Bengal, so giving a much higher intensity than the cyclone which expressed today. At 11:30 p.m. IST, according to the Numerical Weather Prediction(NWP), model used to predict hurricane paths in India, it is this second hypothesis that seems to take the hurricane. But on Thursday the cyclone changed direction repeatedly. The General Director of Indian Meteorological Department, Ajit Tyagi, warned of the risks Laila becomes the next few days, a "super cyclone": "The cyclone warning has issued May 18. We monitored the movement during the six to eight hours. It will fade after a period of rain, (but) re-intensified on 23 and 24 May.”  "We have alerted the governments of Orissa and West Bengal the possibility of re-emergence of the cyclone, which should be clear after 23 or May 25.”, Tyagi added.

Number of state who have not been affected by Laila also suffer damages due to the strong impact of the cyclone. In Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur suffer heavy rains since Wednesday. Karnataka also suffered the impact of Laila. The violent storms that plague the state have so far claimed the lives of six people. Ditto for Sri Lanka, where 17 people died in weather and where three people are still missing. The sri lankan Disaster Management Center reported 450 000 victims in 17 districts. In these last few hours, at least 15 were killed in Andhra Pradesh and two in the North of Tamil Nadu. Laila currently stagnating around of Bapatla in Andhra Pradesh and we have to wait until the hurricane crossed the state to see if it will affect whether or not Orissa and West Bengal.

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