Vishakhapatnam airport suffered extensive damage
There is no rain in Vizag this morning and the winds are calm, a far cry from Sunday when Cyclone Hudhud slammed into the coast with wind speeds touching 200 kmph, bringing heavy rain and tearing down the city.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this morning that he will visit Visakhapatnam or Vizag, which bore the brunt of the cyclone's fury, on Tuesday to take stock of the situation. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is expected to be in the city today.
The Visakhapatnam airport is closed. Inside, there is broken steel and shattered glass and officials said the roof of the airport building is damaged. Water also entered the runway, forcing the authorities to suspend all operations. Restoration of services, they said, would take time.
Out on the streets of this usually bustling city are fallen trees, banners ripped out, broken statues of leaders and many telephone and electricity poles. The railway line is badly damaged.
There is no electricity in Vizag and telephone lines are down too. Three people died in the district.
This morning, residents complained that they couldn't walk on the roads to fetch essential supplies. Shops are yet to open. "We can't walk even a small distance. There is no water, not even a packet of milk," said an agitated man.
A full assessment of the damage is yet to be done; the government said yesterday that even radars in the state have been damaged. So ferocious were the winds that hit Vizag, that refrigerators and other electronic gadgets were seen hurtling out of a showroom. Hoardings, sent flying, became dangerous missiles.
The Indian Navy said both runways at its Vizag air station, INS Dega, will be fit for flying by 2.30 this afternoon. A P 8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft, based near Chennai, will carry out damage assessment of the coastal areas hit by the cyclone.