Vizag battered

• City totally cut off with communication and power supply lines snapped
• Hudhud made its landfall near Kailashgiri in Vizag at 11am
• Trail of destruction in two other districts of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram
• Three killed in AP and 3 in Odisha
• It took almost five hours for the storm to pass over the city

Hyderabad: Severe cyclonic storm Hudhud made its landfall near Kailashgiri in the port city of Visakhapatnam on Sunday morning bringing with it torrential rains and gusty winds in three coastal districts of Andhra Predesh, including Vizianagaram and Srikakulam.

The cyclone which hit the east coast with monsterous ferocity around 11 am left behind a trail of destruction. Two people died in Anakapalli and one in Srikakulam. Another three were reported to have died in Odisha since Saturday night. About one lakh houses were destroyed in 3 districts. While railway tracks of a distance of 75 km were damaged.

Destruction was so severe that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu urged the Centre to declare it as a national calamity and in a letter the Prime Minister sought immediate assistance of Rs 2,000 crore. As gusty winds at speeds ranging from 170 to 180 kmph, accompanied by heavy downpour, hit the coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram with utmost severity for hours since 11 am, reports of largescale uprooting of trees and electric poles, blowing away of electric and telephone wires and damage to civic infrastructure were pouring in from across the districts. Pounding rains and gusting winds brought transport services to a grinding halt. People were forced to remain indoors. Communication system was totally down and could not be restored till late in the night.

There was no power supply during the day and NDRF teams and State officials were battling against odds to restore the supply in Visakhapatnam and elsewhere. Communication signals started showing up late in the night and the networks witnessed a tremendous traffic.

IMD warned in its bulletin at 5 pm of rainfall at most places with heavy (6.5–12.4 cm), very heavy falls (12.5–24.4 cm) at a few places, and isolated extremely heavy falls over West and East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of north Andhra Pradesh.

All roads in Visakhapatnam were littered with broken glass, asbestos and uprooted trees. Electric poles and cables. Hoardings fell on the roads at many places in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts. Despite strict warning by district authorities, youngsters came out in large numbers to witness the nature’s fury and at some places police were called to control hangers on.

"The Visakhapatnam situation is very serious," K Hymavathi, the special commissioner for disaster management for Andhra Pradesh, said on Sunday afternoon. She said even the control room was not able to operate properly
People staying in their apartments are so afraid that they call the control room for help, she said. The impact of the cyclone was so severe that even the Meteorological department’s radar got damaged and window panes were broken due to strong winds. The gale, accompanied by heavy downpour, resulted in trees being uprooted and roofs of thatched huts and sheds being blown away in Srikakulam, Anakapalli and East Godavari districts.

It took over five hours for the eye of the storm to pass over the city of Visakhapatnam. Finally around 7 pm the cyclone warning division of IMD announced that the worst was over and Hudhud, which was so far a very severe cyclonic storm, got converted into a severe cyclone. Its speed is now limited to 100-110 kmph.