Oil & Natural Gas Corp. suspended work at seven oil rigs in the Bay of Bengal and evacuated staff as tropical cyclone Laila lashed India’s southeastern coast, snapping the anchor of one of the drilling ships. The state-run explorer moved the rig named Sagar Vijay to calmer waters and is maintaining a “skeleton staff” onboard, said U.N. Bose, technical director of the New Delhi-based company, said. The rig’s anchor broke while operating in water depths of about 200 meters (656 feet) in the Krishna-Godavari basin in an area that wasn’t producing oil or gas, he said. “We are monitoring the situation and the storm,” Bose said by telephone today. “We hope to gradually restart rig operations today as the sea is calming.”
The cyclone, which has sustained winds of 111 kilometers (69 miles) per hour, made landfall about 100 kilometers south of the city of Vijayawada at 11:30 p.m. local time yesterday, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. Laila brought heavy rains to the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, claiming at least 22 lives. Reliance Industries Ltd. stopped crude oil production at a field and a port handling iron-ore and coal shipments remained shut for the second day yesterday.
The storm, with wind speeds of as much as 85 kph, gusting up to 95 kph, is forecast to bring heavy rain in Andhra Pradesh over the next 24 hours and may damage power and communication lines, according to the India Meteorological Department. The weather office expects the storm to weaken from today, with wind speeds dropping to 75 kph by May 23.
At least 16 people died in Andhra Pradesh, the Times of India reported, including people washed away in floods or crushed as walls collapsed. About 45,000 people were evacuated to relief camps as rail and road services were disrupted, the report said. The Times reported yesterday six people died in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu.
