Cyclone Hudhud hits Andhra Pradesh coast

Tidal wave will be high and areas will be inundated, said Met office. Army, Navy and NDRF men are standby. 

 

The Navy was quoted in media saying it has now a wind speed of 190 to 200 kmph at around 1020 am.

 

The Indian Meteorological Department said at 830 am it was located 60 km east-southeast of Vishakapatnam and it is likely to close Andhra Pradesh around noon. 

 

It later said the eye was 20 km away from Vishakapatnam.  

 

Latest reports said, however, that the landfall has started.  

 

Earlier evacuations and relief operations were conducted on a war-footing  with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself monitoring the affairs.

 

More than 3 lakh people were evacuated in several districts of Andhra Pradesh, said reports. Over 60,000 people were evacuated in Odisha too.

 

Hudhud is expected to pound India’s eastern coast in  Andhra Pradesh and also affect Odisha on Sunday even as  Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself  chaired an emergency high-level meeting to review preparedness last night. 

 

The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to the PM, the Additional Principal Secretary to the PM, the Home Secretary, the Defence Secretary, and other senior officials from the IMD and PMO.

The Prime Minister was briefed on evacuation and other ongoing precautionary and preparatory measures being undertaken for the cyclone. These include deployment of teams from the Armed Forces and NDRF, depletion of reservoirs to accommodate cyclonic rainwater, positioning of boats, swimmers and relief camps, and standby systems to restore power and telecom services. 

After reviewing the emerging situation, the Prime Minister asked the Home Minister to remain in touch with Chief Ministers of the states likely to be affected by the cyclone. He instructed senior officers of the Union Government to maintain close contact and coordination with officers of the affected states, to ensure that relief and rescue operations proceed smoothly. He said suitable arrangements should be made to inform people about the cyclone on a real-time basis.
 

Authorities had conducted large-scale evacuations in the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, the state that is suspected to bear most of the damage. 

The three northern coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam in coastal AP are expected to be the worst hit. 

Authorities in East and West Godavari districts - apprehensive that the cyclone could result in flooding - are drawing up a plan to tackle such an eventuality. 

Fishermen have already been told to suspend fishing operations. 

The East Coast Railway decided to cancel the services of 38 trains on the Bhubaneswar-Visakhapatnam route from 6 am on Sunday. 

"We do not want even a single casualty," said a railway official, adding, "The entire section would be closed to all Mail, Express and Passenger trains". 

In Odisha, 16 teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have been deployed. 300 temporary centres have also been set up while all local schools have been shut. Ganjam district could be affected.

Thirty teams of the Indian Navy, along with teams of the NDRF and two columns of the Army have been kept on stand-by to help in relief and rescue operations in the state. 

The Indian Air Force helicopters are also on standby to meet any emergent situation.

A total of 39 NDRF teams comprising of more than 1680 rescuers along with 199 inflatable rubber boats and other life saving equipments are deployed in various parts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to meet any challenges arising due to cyclonic storm.