Raging Laila storms past Andhra, heads to Orissa

Hyderabad/New Delhi: Cyclonic storm Laila late Thursday caused havoc in coastal Andhra Pradesh, killing 14 people, inundating scores of villages and inflicting massive damage to infrastructure, before heading towards the neighbouring Orissa.

Two men take help of an umbrella as they ride during heavy showers in Chennai.

Accompanied by heavy rains, high storm surges and winds with speed of 125 km an hour, the storm hit southern part of Andhra Pradesh snapping mobile links, forcing cancellation of trains and damaging electricity and communication systems.
Officials said huge storm surges were seen in the Bay of Bengal when the cyclone hit the coast about 50 km from Bapatla, a town in southern district of Guntur.
Storm surge of 1.5 to 2 metres inundated the villages along the coast, the officials said.
After the landfall, the cyclone re-emerged in northern Bay of Bengal and headed towards Balasore in neighbouring Orissa.
Weather officials said the course of Laila was not unusual as there were precedents of cyclones re-emerging on sea after landfall.
MSN NEWS.