As many as 71,000 people continued to be in 300 relief camps in six coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh even as the cyclonic storm 'Laila' further weakened into a deep depression and lay centred over the north coastal area about 50 km north of Machilipatnam.

Chief minister K Rosaiah held a teleconference with collectors and special officers of Prakasam, Guntur, Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts after a high-level meeting with ministers and heads of departments here this afternoon and directed them to continue the vigil for a few more days.

Though Laila appeared to have weakened, under the influence of this system, widespread rainfall with scattered heavy to very heavy falls is likely over north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions during the next 12 hours, a weather bullet-in said.