Three persons were killed in rain-related incidents as very severe cyclonic storm Hudhud battered the Andhra coast with heavy rains after making a landfall in Visakhapatnam, causing extensive damage in three coastal districts and throwing normal life out of gear today.
The trail of destruction and severity of the storm prompted Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to request Centre to declare the cyclone a national calamity.
Marked by gusty winds at speeds ranging from 170 to 180 kmph and heavy downpour, Hudhud uprooted trees, electric poles and other civic infrastructure in the coastal districts of Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.
Three persons were killed in rain-related incidents like wall collapse and tree fall in Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts.
"The wind speed in Visakhapatnam was such that the impact was felt even when windows of pucca houses were closed," many a residents in the port city said.
The city has been rendered without power supply since yesterday night and communication systems have collapsed at many places. With no television broadcast available, people depended on radio for news and information.
Naidu, who got a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, told him that the state government is doing its best to provide relief to people.
Naidu has also informed the Prime Minister that the radar monitoring the cyclone situation in Visakhapatnam got disconnected.
Though Hudhud crossed the coast during the day, the gusty winds and rain continued and IMD warned in its bulletin at 5 PM of rainfall at most places with heavy (6.5-12.4 cm), very heavy falls (12.5-24.4 cm) at a few places, and isolated extremely heavy falls over West and East Godavari, 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.
Naidu, who reviewed the situation with top officials here, left for Visakhapatnam and vowed to function from the port city till normalcy is restored.
"The Chief Minister has directed the entire cabinet to reach Visakhapatnam by tomorrow afternoon," his Advisor (Communication), Parakala Prabhakar told reporters.
