Cyclone Ogni crosses Andhra

Cyclone Ogni, which is now lying over west-central Bay of Bengal, has weakened into a deep depression and crossed the Andhra Pradesh coast between Ongole and Bapatla at around 1 pm on Monday.

The heavy rains caused by the deep depression claimed four lives and paralysed normal life in at least six of the nine coastal districts, a Disaster Management Department spokesman said.

The deep depression further weakened into a depression at 2.30 pm and was centred about 25 kms southwest of Bapatla.

The system is likely to move in a north-north westerly direction and weaken further, a bulletin from the India Meteorological Department said on Monday evening.

The Met department said under the influence of the depression, fairly widespread rainfall continued in the coastal areas, with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places in Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, East and West Godavari districts in the coastal region and adjoining Khammam and Nalgonda districts in interior Telangana region.

The rains are likely to continue for the next 24 hours.

Squally winds, with speeds reaching 45 to 50 kilometers per hour are predicted along and off Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna districts during the next 12 hours.

Meanwhile, the South Central Railways spokesman said the train services were affected in the coastal districts due to the heavy rains. As many as 27 trains were cancelled, diverted or regulated due to the rains and flooding of tracks at four places -- Nellore, Ongole, Vijayawada and Eluru -- in the coastal region.

Five long-distance trains were diverted. Four trains were stranded as the tracks were flooded.

All flights to and from Visakhapatnam were cancelled.