Visakhapatnam: Hundreds of people queued up for life’s essentials and paid a packet as the friendly neighbourhood grocer stores jacked up prices.
Bottled water was a prized commodity. Where available, a 20-litre can of water that usually costs Rs 20, was being sold for upwards of Rs 150. A litre of milk, if it was available cost Rs 60 a litre on manic Monday. The district administration did not supply water in tankers, though it claimed that it had done so.
“I never imagined that the cyclone could be so dangerous and I hadn’t stored water in the tank on Saturday,” said G Gopikrishna, a resident of Sivajipalem. “I expected that the GVMC officials would supply water on Monday morning, but they are nowhere in sight.”
At petrol bunks, people stood in long lines as they waited for that elusive litre of fuel for their vehicles. Many of the 160 petrol pumps, which sell around 8 lakh litres of diesel and 4 lakh litres of petrol daily, ran out of stock as petroleum tankers could not reach the city. There was huge demand for diesel to run generators.
The power failure has forced all hospitals in the city known as a medical tourism hub to shift to generators to maintain critical facilities. But the lack of power was truly biting. “Nothing works without power,” a police officer pointed out.
The lack of power also caused a huge water shortage. Water was not supplied to the city, and apartments could not pump the water stored in sumps to overhead tanks. Andhra University, colleges, schools and other educational institutions have declared holidays for the next 15 days due to water and power shortage.
As the day wore on, the patience of the people appeared to thin out. M. Narsimha Naidu, a resident at MVP Colony, said, “People are frustrated that there is no sign of rescue workers trying to decongest the roads. It is our young kids who are taking the initiative.”
With no cellphones and no entertainment, Vizag appeared to be back in the ages. But there was a message of hope. A user posted on Facebook: “We are a CITY of STEEL, and our "STEEL" DETERMINATION cannot be shattered...”
