30,000 families shifted to relief camps sent back

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 19.The Acting Relief Commissioner, Mr. D. C. Rosaiah, said all the estimated 30,000 families which were shifted to relief camps from low-lying areas in Nellore, Prakasam, Guntur and Krishna districts under an operation running late into the night, were sent back following weakening of the cyclonic storm.

The MI-8 Air Force helicopter, obtained from Bangalore on an emergency basis yesterday, flew back while four others, two of them belonging to the State Government, were kept on hand in Hyderabad.

The Chief Secretary said the control rooms at the Secretariat and Collectorates, especially those in the coastal belt, should continue to function. He thanked the officials down to the village level for the instant evacuation of people and massive preparations made to meet any eventuality.

Surprising development

What would have been the reason for the cyclonic storm to take an erratic path? Though such behaviour by cyclones in the sea is "not uncommon", according to Mr C. V. V. Bhadram, Director of the Hyderabad Meteorological Centre, the tortuous journey of the present phenomenon took everyone connected with disaster management by surprise.

Mr Bhadram attributes the dissipation to "lack of warmth" in the upper atmosphere over the sea. If there was sufficient temperature in the sea surface, the cyclone would have sustained itself. The sluggish movement and erratic path might be due to absence of "feeding elements" like winds and steering currents. Owing to this, there was no vertical growth in the cyclone, Mr Bhadram added.

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Section  : Southern States
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