Life comes to grinding halt in north coast

VISAKHAPATNAM: Bbefore Cyclone Hudhud is expected to make landfall near Visakhapatnam, mass evacuation has been taken up in the three districts of North Coastal Andhra and the twin Godavari districts on Saturday.

With the cyclonic storm inching closer towards the coast and lying at about 250 km off Visakhapatnam coast at 4 pm on Saturday, the state government has sounded high alert and hastened the evacuation of over three lakh people from low-lying areas along the coast to relief camps.

Even as the Indian Meteorological Department officials indicated that there is no possibility of the cyclone changing its course or weakening in the next 24 hours, the government has ordered complete shutdown in the region, including Visakhapatnam, after 7 pm on Saturday till further instructions.

Except for emergency services like ambulances and fire tenders, no vehicle is allowed on the Chennai-Kolkata national highway between Kakinada and Itchhapuram from 5 pm on Saturday to 9 am on Sunday.

All the five district administration have set up relief camps and stocked fuel, drinking water, food, medicines and other essentials for rescue and relief operations.

The government has cancelled all other programmes, including Janmabhoomi-Maa Vooru, and deployed staff to carry out rescue and relief operations to minimise damage.

Though the officials initially planned to evacuate the villagers Saturday night, they have started shifting people to cyclone shelters right from the morning itself.

Nearly 370 relief shelters have been set up across the North Coastal Andhra and East Godavari. While efforts are on to evacuate about three lakh people to safer places, the officials have already shifted nearly 50,000 people from vulnerable villages in the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Vizag and East Godavari.

They said that majority of people will be vacated from their houses by Saturday night. Despite resistance from people, the officials are forcibly shifting them to rescue shelters citing the severity of the cyclone. The police are learnt to have been asked to keep a vigil on these villages to prevent any robberies in the absence of house owners.

Level 10 warning

Indicating the gravity of the situation, the ports at Visakhapatnam, Gangavaram, Kalingapatnam and Bheemili have hoisted the 10th warning signal, while the 11th warning signal is the highest. The officials have signalled seventh cautionary signal at Kakinada and Machilipatnam ports.

At Visakhapatnam Port, all ships have been asked to vacate berths and anchor themselves in deep sea to avoid any eventualities.

About 44 NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) teams comprising 2,000 personnel, including 690 swimmers, 200boats, 199 inflated boats, have been deployed at various strategic locations to carry out rescue and relief operations both in AP and Odisha.

Indian armed forces including Army, Navy and Airforce, have deployed more than 500 personnel including divers, doctors and other professionals along with four ships and 10 choppers.

The officials at Cyclone Warning Centre in Visakhapatnam, under the Indian Meteorological Department, have warned that power and telecommunications are likely to be severely affected when the cyclone hits the coast in the wee hours of Sunday. Several parts of the region, including Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Rajahmundry and Kakinada experienced frequent power interruptions.

At several places, power supply got disrupted as electric lines got snapped due to gales gusting at 40-50 kmph. The EPDCL had deployed nearly 1,000 skilled and unskilled staff along with 50 cranes, electric poles, transformers, and wireless sets to carry out power restoration works on a war footing.

In Srikakulam, the officials are evacuating about 231 villages in 11 mandals. People have been warned against venturing out after 7 pm on Saturday until further notice from the district administration on Sunday.

Rain and Wind

Heavy rain coupled with gusty wind was witnessed in several parts of North Coastal Andhra region and East Godavari district since Saturday afternoon. At Nakkapalli mandal of Visakhapatnam, the sea surged by about 20 metres at several villages along the coast, sending the villagers into panic.

Similarly, several villages in Srikakulam district and Bhogapuram in Vizianagaram district also reported that the sea surged by 20-30 metres. In East Godavari district, people in low-lying areas who were anxious to know about the situation found it difficult to reach the officials as several phone numbers of control rooms did not respond.

Except for the toll free number 1949, the callers complained that all other numbers remained unavailable. Due to the impact of high tides, the 1 km stretch at Uppada between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam road got severely damaged forcing the officials to shutdown the road. RTC services towards Vizag from East and West Godavari districts were cancelled.

On high alert

Over three lakh people in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, East Godavari and West Godavari districts to be shifted to relief camps

Road, rail, sea and air transportation shut down from 5 pm Saturday to 9 am Sunday in North Coastal Andhra and Godavari districts. Except for emergency services like ambulance and fire, no vehicle is allowed on the NH-16 between Kakinada and Itchapuram

All major trains passing Visakhapatnam have been cancelled or diverted

Schools, colleges, cinemas, shopping malls and tourist sports, some eateries and industries in the affected areas have been asked to remain shut till Monday

Ports at Vizag, Gangavaram, Kalingapatnam and Bheemili have hoisted the 10th warning signal, and seventh cautionary signal at Kakinada and Machilipatnam ports. At Visakhapatnam port, all ships have been asked to vacate the berths and anchor in deep sea to avoid any damage to the ships

About 44 NDRF teams comprising 2000 personnel, including 690 swimmers, 200 boats and 199 inflated boats, have been deployed. Army, Navy and Airforce have deployed more than 500 personnel, including divers, doctors and others, along with four ships and 10 choppers