Cyclonic Storm Hudhud, which made landfall in Andhra Pradesh yesterday, has moved northwestwards and now lays centered very close to Jagdalpur over south Chhattisgarh adjoining southwest Odisha.
As per the latest information received from the MeT department, the cyclone would further move north-northwestwards and weaken gradually. The wind speed has slowed down to 70 to 80 kms per hour.
The MeT department said that Hudhud, which converted from a severe cyclonic storm to a cyclonic storm last night, will weaken into a deep depression by 11:30 this morning.
Heavy rainfall is predicted at a few places including Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam districts of north Andhra Pradesh and Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Kalahandi, Phulbani districts of south Odisha during the next 24 hours.
Death toll due to cyclone has risen to 8, with two more deaths reported from Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram districts.
Authorities evacuated more than five lakh people to relief camps. Eight more Army teams from Secunderabad with equipment and rescue material will join the central armed forces in Vishakhapatnam. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has urged the Centre to treat the devastation caused by Hudhud as a national calamity and requested for an ad-hoc assistance of Rs 2,000 crore pending evaluation of the damages.
Mr. Naidu is on his way to Visakhapatnam to monitor rescue and relief operations.Mr. Naidu reached Rajahmundry late in the night yesterday. He appealed to Governments of Tamil Nadu and Odisha to lend a hand in restoring power supply in the State. Appreciating the help extended by the Centre, Mr Naidu assured the people that the government will stand by them. He said the situation would be analysed and rescue and rehabilitation measures would be launched mobilising men and materials and normalcy would be restored.
He held a meeting with telecom service providers and urged them to restore their services at the earliest. He said road openings, restoration of power supply and communication lines are high on the agenda of the government besides rescue and relief operations. As rain water entered into the Visakhapatnam airport, several flights were cancelled and efforts are on for restoration of services. Rail and Road traffic is yet to be restored.
Visakhapatnam bore the brunt of the havoc, while the storm caused widespread damage in the north coastal districts of Srikakulam and Vizianagaram. Normal life affected in East Godavari. The cyclone has also inflicted huge crop loss in these districts. The navy will lead a joint armed forces relief operation, code named Lehar.
The Air Force is sending in its machines from Delhi, Jorhat bases. The Indian Coast Guard is inducting its 17 vessels and 11 planes for rescue and relief operations in Andhra and Odisha. The Army has alerted its areas offices in Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala and kept its columns ready to take up rescue and relief operations.
Meanwhile, the cyclonic storm Hud-hud over North Andhra and adjoining South Odisha has moved north-northwestwards and lay centred over southwest Odisha and adjoining Chattisgarh 50 km southeast of Jagdalpur. It had weakened into a cyclonic storm and would weaken further into a depression today.
