Cyclone Hudhud tears into Visakhapatnam at 195kmph, wreaks havoc in city

VISAKHAPATNAM/HYDERABAD: 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. 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. 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 was 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. Hudhud also left former ambassador to Philippines, Amit Dasgupta, who presently resides in Vizag and has seen much worse tropical storms in Manila, rattled. "Cyclone Hudhud - far worse than anything I have experienced in Manila. Much of the garden is airborne and trees broken in half like match-sticks!" Dasgupta posted on his Facebook wall early on Sunday morning, before his network crashed. 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 last year 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. "It is impossible to negotiate the city with uprooted tress and telephone cables blocking ways. It is very scary," said K S Narayana, a builder. YK 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 10km. It may have been the local atmospheric conditions that attracted the cyclone towards Vizag." 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 too 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. TOI