Indian Navy gears up to aid Hudhud-hit areas

The whole of Andhra Pradesh's revenue administration is geared up for rescue and relief operations as the severe cyclonic storm (said to be another super cyclone) Hudhud is inching towards Visakhapatnam coastal region with a wind speed of 170-195 kms and tidal waves 14 metres high.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has sought the help of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the central government to provide satellite monitoring to speed up rescue and relief operations as the cyclone is likely to hit Andhra Pradesh coast between Sunday morning and afternoon.

The severe cyclone, will hit the coast with a wind speed of 175-195 kms and tidal waves 14 metres high, said IMD director L S Rathod in a weather bulletin. The very Severe Cyclonic storm Hudhud is expected to cross north Andhra Pradesh coast near Visakhapatnam by before noon on Sunday.

Visakhapatnam district officials have stopped all vehicular traffic on the coastal highways NH-16 and NH-216 and the south central railway has cancelled all trains running on the easter sector. "Vehicular traffic will resume on the highways after the crossing of the cyclone," said district officials.

The south central railway has cancelled 27 Express trains and 10 passenger trains and diverted 31 other services keeping in view the intensity of the cyclone, till further notice. This includes Rayagada-Vijayawada Passenge and Vijayawada-Rayagada Passenger.

Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who reviewed the situation with top officials, said large-scale evacuation efforts have already started and over one lakh people have been shifted from low-lying areas to safety in eight coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. In a special address to TV channels, Naidu appealed to people to abide by officiial directions and shift to safer spots, preferably over sea level. The Met department has said that heavy rainfall would occur over west & east Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram & Srikakulam districts of north Andhra Pradesh and Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Phulbani districts of south Odisha in the next 48 hours. Squally winds with speed of 50-60 kmph already started hitting Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts on Saturday.

With sea waters gushing on the seaside road near Kakinada, the government has decided to shut down the Itchapuram-Rajahmundry road (395 Kms) till further notice. Sea water has inundated beaches in Nakkapalli mandal of Visakhapatnam coast and rains have been lashing the coastal Srikakulam district disrupting normal life. The Srikakulam district collector has declared a holiday for all educational institutions in the district.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy has readied 15 teams comprising 60 divers at Eastern Naval command and the Indian Army has sent 225 rescue specialists to Visakhapatnam. According to Eastern Naval Command, food and rescue material has been loaded in INS Iravat, INS Sakthi, INS Shivalik and INS Ranjit and are waiting to reach affected areas on the east coast.

The Indian Ocean is a cyclone hot spot. Of the 35 deadliest storms in recorded history, 27 have come through the Bay of Bengal — and have landed in either India or Bangladesh. In 1999, a cyclone devastated Orissa's coastline and killed at least 10,000 people.

While India has a disastrous record of response to natural calamities, it managed last October to safely evacuate nearly a million people out of the path of Cyclone Phailin, the strongest tropical storm to hit India in more than a decade. Phailin destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of crops after it made landfall in Orissa, but claimed only about 25 lives.