Hovering over west-central and adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal, the severe cyclonic storm ‘Hudhud’ is moving in a west-northwest direction, heading towards the east coast and is lay centred at about 530 kilometres east-southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Gaining power the system is expected to transform into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours and cross north Andhra Pradesh coast around Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of Sunday. The Andhra Pradesh government has fully geared up to meet the impending danger.

The district administrations of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari have issued a cyclone warning alert. Five battalions of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) have been deployed for rescue and relief operations in the 9 coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Six rescue and relief teams have already been rushed to Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari.

Revenue and police departments were alerted to be prepared for the cyclone while the NDRF teams would be based out of Vizag and later mobilised to impact areas based on the subsequent direction of the cyclone. Control rooms have been set up at the district collectorates, RDO and mandal offices. Fishermen have been advised against venturing into the sea in view of the cyclone. Motorized boats had been asked to return to the coast.

Odisha is bracing up to face the severity of a very strong cyclonic strom HUDHUD which is fast moving towards the eastern coast. HUDHUD is the second major cyclone after Phailin which hit the eastern coast in October last year. Cyclone HUDHUD is moving in from the Bay of Bengal and is expected to develop into a very severe storm, packing wind speeds of up to 155 kilometre per hour, before hitting the coast near Visakhapatnam on Sunday forenoon.

The Paradip and Gopalpur ports in Odisha have been advised by the India Meteorological Department to hoist local cautionary signal number 3 as the severe cyclonic storm got closer to the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast this morning and located at a distance of 610 km from the Gopalpur port.

The severe storm, which is gathering more force, is likely to turn into a very severe cyclonic storm within next 12 hours. The Indian Meteorological Department at Bhubanesawr has predicted squally wind speed reaching 45-55 km per hour gusting to 65 km per hour from northeast direction along and off the Odisha coast from today. The wind speed will increase to 80-90 km per hour along and off Odisha coast from the tomorrow.