Cyclone Hudhud: Urban target wrecked, Destruction more as eye of storm passed over city

IMD officials give two reasons for this: one, because the amount of rain was overpowered by the gale and second, because the cyclone made landfall in an urban area (Vizag) and its eye, with a diameter of 40-50 km, was lying exactly over the city, resulting in tremendous loss of both natural green cover and property.

In comparison to Phailin, that made landfall with a wind speed of almost 222 kmph, Hudhud hit the coast gusting at 205 kmph. Elaborating, Mr Y.K. Reddy, director-in-charge, Meteorological Centre, Hyderabad said, “The destruction is more this time as the eye of the cyclone was lying exactly over Vizag. There is nothing peculiar about the cyclone as such. And also the rainfall was relatively less on Friday, owing to the winds, but we have predicted that the rainfall is going to continue for the next 48 hours.”

Mr K. Seetharam, a scientist with the IMD said that this was the most devastating cyclone in recent times, both in the East and the West coasts. “The wind speed is the criteria. It first starts as a low-pressure area with (speeds of) 70 kmph. It becomes a cyclone as the wind reaches 70-120. If the speed is 118-221 kmph, it is a very severe cyclonic storm and anything above 222 kmph is classified as a super cyclone.

“Hudhud is more devastating as it crossed an urban area. During Phailin, agricultural areas were affected and a lot of crops were damaged. The affected districts this time are Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. The cyclone has weakened and is further expected to weaken and into a depression by Monday.” He also explained that collision of “reverse” winds caused by a combination of two winds from different directions, is expected to cause more damage.

“At first when a cyclone touches the coast, a wall cloud from the easterly direction will block it, causing it to move northwestwards; and when it approaches land, the winds will be westerly, so the damage will be severe.”

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had earlier appealed to people to make use of the app or upload pictures to the NRSC, detailing the damage in their surroundings. “People can download an app from the NRSC Bhuvan website, and directly upload the damage photos using the app. Those who don’t have smartphones can upload on the FTP site of the NRSC,” the CM had said.

However, in reality, people could do little, as Visakhapatnam was plunged into darkness on Saturday night and was left without any connectivity on Sunday. Very few people could manage to upload pictures of the destruction inflicted by the storm. On the official website of Bhuvan, only three pictures could be uploaded by users.

Also, though social media users enthusiastically shared helpline numbers setup by the government at Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari districts, the state officials failed to ensure that the helplines were in working order. None of the helplines set up by district officials worked after Hudhud hit Vizag.

Over 10 villages were inundated by sea surge of around 200 mts. About 540 mechanised boats in the Vizag fishing harbor have returned to the anchorage and over 60 boats, which went to Odisha,

were asked to anchor at the Paradeep port.