Cyclone Hudhud Hammers India's Eastern Seaboard, Three Dead
By Jatindra Dash, 12 October 2014
VISAKHAPATNAM, India, Oct 12 (Reuters)
Cyclone Hudhud blasted India's eastern seaboard on Sunday with gusts of up to 195 kilometres an hour (over 120 mph), uprooting trees, damaging buildings and killing at least three people despite a major evacuation effort.
The port city of Visakhapatnam, home to two million people and a major naval base, was hammered as the cyclone made landfall, unleashing the huge destructive force it had sucked up from the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal.
Upended trees and wreckage were strewn across Visakhapatnam, known to locals as Vizag. Most people heeded warnings to take refuge, but three who ventured out were killed.
"The Visakhapatnam situation is very serious," K. Hymavathi, the special commissioner for disaster management for Andhra Pradesh state, told Reuters by telephone.
"Telecommunications are disrupted - even our control room is not able to operate properly. People staying in their apartments are so afraid that they are panicking and calling us," she said.
The low toll reported so far followed an operation to evacuate more than 150,000 people on Saturday to minimise the risk to life from Hudhud - similar in size and power to cyclone Phailin that struck the area exactly a year ago.
After a lull as the eye of the storm passed over the city, winds regained their strength. Forecasters warned Hudhud would blow with full force for several hours more, before wind speeds halve by evening."Reverse windflow will be experienced by the city, which will again have a very great damage potential," L.S. Rathore, director-general of the state India Meteorological Department (IMD), told reporters in New Delhi.
The IMD forecast a storm surge of 1-2 metres above high tide that could result in flooding of low-lying coastal areas around Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam.
A Reuters reporter staying in Vizag said earlier that his hotel had broken windows while the ground floor was flooded by horizontal rain. Hotel staff abandoned efforts to keep the water out when they were blown back several metres by the wind.
Preparation: Fisherwomen watch the waves in their village on the outskirts of Gopalpurin Orissa's Ganjam district before leaving for a relief camp
Building storm: Fishermen manoeuvre their skiff through rough waters in Visakhapatnam
Praying for safety: A group of women prays for safety at a beach in Srikakulam as Hudhud closes in
TERRIFYING NOISE
The winds were deafening, the reporter said, sounding like explosions going off.
"I never imagined that a cyclone could be so dangerous and devastating," said a businessman staying in the hotel. "The noise it is making would terrify anyone."
Vizag port suspended operations on Saturday night, with its head saying that 17 ships which had been in the harbour were moving offshore where they would be less at risk from high seas.
The city airport was closed and train services suspended.
The IMD rated Hudhud as a very severe cyclonic storm that could pack gusts of 195 km/h and dump more than 24.5 cm (10 inches) of rain.
The cyclone was strong enough to have a "high humanitarian impact" on nearly 11 million people, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS), run by the United Nations and the European Commission, said.
The evacuation effort was comparable to one preceding Cyclone Phailin, credited with minimising fatalities to 53. When a huge storm hit the same area 15 years ago, 10,000 people died.
Hudhud was likely to batter a 200-300 km stretch of coastline before losing force inland, forecasters said.
"The landfall process could take up to 10 or 12 hours," said Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist at U.S. online magazine Slate who has been tracking Hudhud.
"The worst-case scenario would be if Hudhud's eye makes landfall just south of the city, which would direct the full brunt of the eyewall and maximum storm surge towards Vizag," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
According to the IMD, peak wind speeds will drop to 60 km/h by Monday afternoon. Hudhud is expected to continue to dump heavy rains further inland and, eventually, snow when it reaches the Himalayan mountains.
LIVE Updates: Declare Hudhud as National Calamity, Chandrababu Naidu tells PM Modi
IndiaToday, New Delhi, 12 October, 2014
A man, bottom jumps into the water to rescue a woman, center, who fell due to strong tidal waves on the Bay of Bengal coast at Gopalpur, Orissa, about 285 kilometers (178 miles) north east of Visakhapatnam, India on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014. Photo: AP
Three persons were killed in separate rain-related incidents in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh on Sunday as the very severe cyclonic storm Hudhud triggered heavy downpour in the region.
Lakhs of people are being evacuated from towns and villages through which the cyclone will pass amid massive rain and wind. The cyclone is similar to last year's Phailin that crossed the Odisha coast leaving behind a trail of destruction.
Watch video: Impact of cyclone Hudhud
Here are the latest updates on the developing story:
05:45 pm: Cyclone Hudhud loses speed; winds now blowing at 120-130 kmph: IMD.
05:43 pm: Prime Minister promised Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu all possible assistance as Cyclone Hudhud made landfall leaving five persons dead in the state and neighbouring Odisha.
The Prime Minister, who had on Saturday held an emergency high-level meeting to review preparedness for the cyclone, spoke to Naidu and discussed relief and rescue measures.
Normal life was thrown completely out of gear as winds with a speed of 170 to 180 kmph battered Visakhapatnam.
5.15 pm: Cyclone hits train movement in Andhra, Odisha: Railways cancelled or diverted many trains in north coastal Andhra and adjoining Odisha in view of severe cyclone Hudhud which hit the coast near Visakhapatnam.
04:45 pm: Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu wants PM Modi to declare Hudhud as a national calamity.
03:30 pm: Cyclone Hudhud: Five persons die in Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Odisha.
02:40 pm: Normal life was thrown completely out of gear as winds with a speed of 170 to 180 kmph battered Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts on Sunday.
02:35 pm: Cyclone intensity to prevail for 6 hours after landfall: IMD.
02:25 pm: Casualty in cyclone Hudhud rises to two in Odisha with a fresh death reported from Puri on Sunday.
See pics: Cyclone Hudhud: High tides slam Vizag, 2 killed
02:00 pm: Gusty winds, uprooted trees, torn roofs of hutments and sheds and snapped electric cables bore testimony to the impact of severe cyclonic storm Hudhud which hit Andhra Pradesh's coastal districts on Sunday.
Heavy rains coupled with high-speed wind lashed several parts of Andhra Pradesh
01:20 pm: Cyclone Hudhud: NDRF rushes additional teams to Vishakhapatnam, total 13 teams in the district now.
12:40 pm: Cyclone wind speed 170-180 kmph gusting up to 195 kmph in Andhra Pradesh coast, wind speed will come down by 50 per cent in 6 hours: IMD Chief Laxman Singh Rathore.
WATCH VIDEO: Cyclone Hudhud: Fresh footage of rains and storm
12:35 pm: Cyclone Hudhud: PMO monitoring situation on an hourly basis, says IMD chief.
Cyclone Hudhud: 2 killed in coastal Andhra
12:30 pm: Time, place and speed of Hudhud cycle as per forecast: IMD chief.
12:10 pm: Precaution becomes the prime concern for people of the seaside villages of Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts in Odisha as they do not want to take chances for the incoming cyclone Hudhud.
The very severe cyclonic storm is likely to make a landfall near Visakhapatnam.
11:55 am: Andhra PardeshChief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is reviewing the situation arising out of the cyclone from the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat.
Cyclone Hudhud: Maximum wind speed touches 205 kmph
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