Over 17 dead as ‘Cyclone Laila’ devastates Andhra coast

Hyderabad, May 21 (ANI) At least 17 people feared killed and three others declared missing as ‘Cyclone Laila’ continues to have a devastating impact along the Andhra Pradesh coastline.

‘Cyclone Laila’ has damaged road networks and destroyed crops in almost all coastal districts of the state.

According to Andhra Pradesh Disaster Management Commissioner T Radha seven people were killed in Krishna District, including five in a wall collapse in Vijayawada city.

Radha said four persons had lost their lives in Nellore, three in Guntur, two in East Godavari and one in Prakasam Districts.

Two persons were missing in Krishna district and one in East Godavari when the ‘cyclone Laila’ made the landfall in Macchalipatnam area.

Radha further said five members of a family were buried alive under a wall that collapsed on their hut at Chittinagar in Vijayawada.

There was also a landslide in the area but no one was killed.

Official sources said crops suffered extensive damage while road network remained badly battered due to heavy rains caused by the cyclonic storm.

Meanwhile, the Met Department said the storm was heading towards Orissa from Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh.

Many colonies in Ongole town in Prakasam district — which bore the brunt of ‘cyclone Laila’ — remained marooned due to a constant downpour in the last two days.

Over 300 Army personnel, besides teams of National Disaster Response Force (NERF), have been rushed to Ongole for rescue and relief operations.

In East Godavari district, air, rail and road traffic was disrupted due to heavy rains.

Three persons were killed in East Godavari District and one person missing even as over 3,000 people in low-lying areas were shifted to relief camps and nearby schools.

The Andhra Pradesh Government has setup control rooms at Amalapuram, Kakinada, Samalkota and other places to monitor the situation. (ANI)

Mayor urges bigger roads spend

The Pacific Highway Task Force’s chairman says he welcomes more New South Wales Government funding to fix local roads, but more needs to be done.

NSW Roads Minister David Campbell has announced $45 million to help local councils upgrade roads, while $9 million will be spent on improving truck safety.

The Clarence Valley Mayor and task force chairman, Richie Williamson, says more needs to be done to make an impact on the roads network.

“This is welcome news, but it’s only the start of what we believe should be more funding from the state to local government for the maintenance and upgrading of the local road network,” he said.

“We think that the $45 million is a good start but there will certainly need to be further funding from state, local and federal governments to really make an indent on our local road networks.”

Plane crashes in Indonesia’s Papua with 11 aboard

Jakarta – A small plane crashed Friday in Indonesia’s Papua province, but the fate of the 11 people on board was unknown, the state Antara news agency reported.

The plane was travelling from Ilaga to Mulia district when it crashed in a mountainous area, Antara said.

Among the nine passengers were officials of the local election commission and two children, the news agency said.

Police and officials could not be reached immediately for comment.

Hanock Ibo, deputy district head of Puncak Jaya, told Antara that bad weather was hampering efforts to reach the wreckage of the plane.

Ibo said a pilot of another plane that passed over the area had seen shiny objects that could have been the remains of the plane.

Six people were killed on April 9 when a cargo plane carrying food supplies crashed in poor weather in Papua’s Wamena district.

Jungle-clad Papua relies on air transport owing to its limited road networks.(dpa)