Hudhud ..............a disaster or a cyclone..........

A disaster, a curse, a cyclone or whatever we call it.....the effect will not change. 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 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. Its speading its waves very fastly.

Meaning of Hudhud: - The cyclone itself originated in the north Andaman Sea in the Bay of Bengal and is now hurtling towards Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states. The name Hudhud in Arabic refers to the Hoopoe bird.

 In the days before 2004, cyclones in the North Indian Ocean were nameless One of the reasons, according to Dr M Mahapatra, who heads India's cyclone warning centre, was that in an "ethnically diverse region we needed to be very careful and neutral in picking up the names so that it did not hurt the sentiments of people”. But finally in 2004 they clubbed together and agreed on their favourite names. The Hudhud, or hoopoe bird, is an exotic creature noticed for its distinctive crown of feathers and is widespread in Europe, Asia and North Africa. Oman's choice for a cyclone name.

Disaster brought : - The cyclone, that made landfall in the Port City around noon, sent hoardings and tin roofs flying, cores 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. With winds touching a speed of around 180-195kmph during landfall, waves as high as two to three metres surged along the Beach Road. In fact, such as Hudhud’s fury that even chief minister dared not enter the Port City and had to it cool his heels at Gannavaram awaiting the clearance of roadblocks like uprooted trees and collapsed walls on NH-16 to proceed to Vizag.  Much of the garden is airborne and trees broken in half like match-sticks!

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. 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, ANDHRA Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has sought an ad hoc relief package of 2,000 crore.

Current status:-

• Hudhud has moved to Chhattisgarh .and moving towards north -North West
• The cyclone has lost speed since Sunday night. And turned out in a DEEP-DEPRESSION.
• Both runways will be fit for flying by 2.30 p.m.
• Heavy rain fall is being expected at many places over north Andhra Pradesh and coastal Orissa in next 10 hours
• 2, 50,000 people from four districts off A.P.  And 216,000 from nine districts of modish have been shifted to relief camps.
• Around 70 % power lines snapped in Visakhapatnam.
• Cyclone has lost its speed, wind blowing at 120-130 kmph.

Normal life which has gone out of gear is now coming back on track in a slow motion. 

Hudhud has now moved over to Chhattisgarh and neighbourhood located 90km NW of Jagdalpur and 190 km south of Raipur.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.