Cyclone Hudhud Batters Vizag
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India’s east coast has been pounded by a powerful cyclone, Hudhud, with winds of up to 205km/h (127mph).The cyclone has caused widespread damage to parts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha states, The winds and heavy rains have damaged power lines and buildings and prompted the evacuation of 350,000 people from their homes.
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After ducking the devastating effects of the 2004 tsunami and the 1977 cyclone, the `City of Destiny’ sadly had its date with disaster on Sunday, 12th Oct 2014 when a very severe cyclonic storm Hudhud tore through the city, unleashing widespread destruction and bringing the otherwise bustling city of nearly 20 lakh people to a grinding halt.
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The cyclone, that made landfall in the Port City around noon, sent hoardings and tin roofs flying like saucers, shattered windows leaving the streets littered with glass shreds, toppled over statues of leaders in many places as well as landmarks like the replica of the navy airplane on RK Beach. Scores of electricity and telephone poles were knocked down and thousands of trees uprooted as strong gales accompanied by heavy rainfall lashed the city right from Sunday morning to evening.Essential services were disrupted and people remained indoors to escape nature’s fury.
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With winds touching a speed of around 205 kmph during landfall, waves as high as two to three metres surged along the Beach Road.
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Cyclone Hudhud blasted the eastern seaboard today with gusts of up to 205 kilometres an hour (over 120 mph), uprooting trees, damaging buildings and killing three despite a major evacuation effort.
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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.
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In fact, it is perhaps for the first time since the India Meteorological Department (IMD) was set up in 1891, that the Port City has found itself in the eye of such a storm.Even Phailin whizzed past the city on October 12, 2013 without so much as a whimper. And while Met experts had been confident of the city’s unique topography protecting it yet again, Hudhud’s ferocity left them flummoxed. The destruction started hours before the landfall forcing denizens to remain indoors. Many of them could not come out for hours. Vizag being a low-lying area flooding is a distinct possibility.
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Y K Reddy, director in charge, IMD Hyderabad, said: “Though Vizag does not witness too many cyclones, no topography can actually protect a place from cyclone.Even Vizag has only hills and hillocks, which can only protect it from a storm surge but not a cyclone with a height of roughly 10 km. It may have been the local atmospheric conditions that attracted the cyclone towards Vizag.“
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With the discom Eastern Power Distribution Corporation of AP Ltd switching off power in the wee hours of Sunday as a precautionary measure, the city was plunged into darkness and by afternoon telecom links snapped as networks crashed and landline and cell phones blipped off. All flights in and out of Vizag were suspended on Sunday due to the hostile weather conditions that reduced visibility to near zero and destroyed the innards of the airport. Several trains passing through the city were cancelled and road transport too came to a grinding halt as the National Highway-16 connecting Chennai to Kolkata and passing through the Port City was shut down from Saturday evening and people were advised not to venture out.
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Operations at the crucial Eastern Naval Command were hit, with damage to the naval base, naval air base INS Dega and residential quarters at Dolphin Nose hill. According to naval officials, 12 ships were on stand-by for evacuation and relief operations. Operations at ports like Visakhapatnam Port, Gangavaram Port and PSUs like Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and Hindustan Shipyard Ltd too were suspended and property in these places damaged by the ravaging storm. “This is the biggest disaster to have ever hit Vizag. The blasting sounds of the wind are very scary. God knows how we will survive this,” said Kala Kumari, her voice shaking tremulously before the eye of the storm hit the city.
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“The situation in Vizag is very serious. Telecommunications have been completely disrupted, impacting even our control room. Panicked people are calling up to find out if they have to be evacuated,” K Hymavathi, AP special commissioner for disaster management, told mediapersons.
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Cyclonic storm Hudhud which wreaked havoc in north coastal Andhra has also damaged Visakhapatnam Airport, snapping the air connectivity with this port city. Along with power and phone lines, the Visakhapatnam airport is also out of service. Sunday’s 200kmph winds of Cyclone Hudhud has virtually blown off its roof and wreaked havoc inside.
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While officials were unable to come out with a picture of the damages in the Port City, they said it would take weeks for Andhra Pradesh’s largest city to get back on its feet after the unprecedented blow.
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Prime Minister Marendra Modi Modi undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas , Cheif Minister of AP Chandra babu Naidu visted the cyclone hit areas to witness the devastation and oversea the relief operations.
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Pawan Kalyan also visited Vizag to express his solidarity and support apart from domnating 50 lakhs rupess.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an interim relief assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to Andhra Pradesh after personally reviewing the massive devastation caused by Cyclone Hudhud in the state. He also announced a compensation of Rs two lakhs to the kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 for those injured in the calamity.
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“I want to announce an interim assistance of Rs 1,000 crore to Andhra Pradesh. After a detailed survey, we will give whatever further assistance is required,” he said.
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He assured the state governments of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh that the central government will extend all possible help to them.
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Hudhud crashes Vizag’s nascent IT dreams
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The swanky building of the Vizag Startup Village, which was thrown open amid much fanfare less than a fortnight ago by Naidu himself, was a picture of destruction as its glass façade was blown to smithereens by cyclone Hudhud.
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What makes the tragedy worse is that the Startup Village, which is nothing but the new avatar of what was initially mooted as an incubation centre years ago by the previous regime, had managed to get off to a start only on September 29 this year, raising hopes of replicating the success story of Kochi Startup Village in Vizag, which has always lived in the shadow of Hyderabad. But this is not the only reason why the attempts of the AP government to reboot the IT sector in Vizag have received a major setback. The cyclone also ravaged the offices of most of the IT firms located at the picturesque Rushikonda IT Park.
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Some industry sources feel that the cyclone may have dented Vizag’s image as a safe IT destination and put paid to the Naidu government’s efforts to pitch the scenic Rushikonda as the most beautiful IT Park in the country .
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Many of the IT offices on Hill nos. 2 and 3 have been badly damaged and are expected to take days to be back on their feet as most IT offices have glass frontages that could not withstand the high wind speeds of around 195 kmph that rocked the city . The offices of companies like IBM, Symbiosys Technologies and Softsol at the Rushikonda IT Park have been hit badly , informed sources told TOI. While IBM officials were unavailable for comment, sources said it would be difficult for them to run operations due to lack of power, fuel and communication networks.
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Sans power supply , even IT firms that have not suffered any damage, have been forced to undergo productivity losses as they had to shut shop till the situation improves. “Even in companies where operations are partially on due to alternative power supply through gensets, many employees are unable to report to work due to petrol shortage in the city,“ said an IT industry source. “We are trying to get operations up and running. The internet service guys have no clue when they can get the networks running even if we have the capability to start operations. We are losing mobile connectivity frequently ,“ said Deepak Madala, Vizag IT Association President.
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What has irked the industry more is that despite the pro-IT noises being made by the present Chan drababu Naidu regime, none of the officials has even bothered to visit them.
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“Nobody has even bothered to check the status of the IT hills, be it GVMC, EPDCL or any of the ministries. We have no power or communication lines available for running operations. Things can come back to normal only after water and power supply are restored,“ said Rushikonda IT Park Association vice-president O Naresh Kumar.
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