Tidal waves hit the beach as Cyclone Hudhud reaches Visakhapatnam on Sunday. (Press Trust of India)
At least four people have been killed in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha by Cyclone Hudhud which pounded Visakhapatnam with relentless force on Sunday. It is still raining in and around the port city.
Here are the latest developments in this story
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu told NDTV that phone lines are down and cellphone towers have been damaged, making it tough to assess the scale of devastation.
The extent of the crisis would be known tomorrow, he said, urging the Prime Minister to declare the cyclone a national calamity. Mr Naidu also said that he has sought a relief package of Rs 2,000 crore from the Centre.
The cyclone hit Visakhapatnam, which hosts a large naval base, at 11 am with winds peaking at nearly 195 km per hour.
By night, the wind speed had fallen to 100 kmph but it was still raining in and around Visakhapatnam.
Nearly four lakh people had been evacuated in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha in the hours before the cyclone touched down.
Odisha was largely saved from the cyclone's wrath. The current windspeed there is 60 to 70 km per hour.
The windspeed is expected to reduce further and the cyclone is to turn into a depression over the next 12 hours. Heavy rainfall is expected in parts of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
Flight operations to Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are expected to resume on Monday morning.
The Prime Minister has cancelled his Tuesday's trip to Varanasi because of heavy rains in eastern Uttar Pradesh following the cyclone.
The Indian Ocean is a cyclone hot spot. Of the 35 deadliest storms in recorded history, 27 have come through the Bay of Bengal - and have landed in either India or Bangladesh.
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