Over 2 lakh evacuated as ‘Hudhud’ set to hit AP, Odisha coasts

HYDERABAD/BHUBNAESWAR, Oct 11:
Over two lakh people living in and around the vulnerable coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have been evacuated with Cyclone ‘Hudhud’ set to hit the two states tomorrow with winds gusting up to 195 kmph.
The cyclone is expected to make a landfall near Visakhapatnam by tomorrow afternoon, a senior official said, adding, about 1.11 lakh people in five coastal districts have been shifted to safer places.
The Andhra government has made arrangements to evacuate 5,14,725 people in all, officials said, while the Army and the Navy have kept their personnel on stand-by for rescue and relief operations.
In Odisha, the state government today began evacuating people from vulnerable areas to minimise casualties even as two flights and 39 trains on the route were cancelled.
“The collectors of eight districts – Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kalahandi and Kandhamal have been on the job to shift people from vulnerable areas to safe places,” Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) P K Mohapatra said.
The cyclone will attain its top speed of 195 kmph early tomorrow morning, the IMD said.
The cyclone, which lay centred 250 km southwest of Visakhapatnam and 340 km south-southeast of Gopalpur at 2.30 PM, will attain speed of 170-180 kmph around 5.30 AM tomorrow with winds gusting up to 195 kmph, a bulletin issued by the Indian Meteorological Department said in Delhi..
The National Crisis Management Committee took stock of the preparedness of various state and central government agencies to deal with the cyclone.
The meeting was chaired by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth and it took stock of the relief and rescue measures put in place in both the states after discussing the subject with the Chief Secretaries of the Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
“All the central agencies are fully geared up to provide necessary assistance to these states in case of any eventualities arising out of the landfall of the cyclone expected tomorrow,” a Union Home Ministry statement said.
Under the influence of the cyclonic system, heavy to very heavy rainfall would take place 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 over next two days.(PTI)

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