Visakhapatnam, known as the City of Destiny, has now turned into a city of ruins as the picture of unprecedented destruction caused by cyclone Hudhud is becoming clear with each passing hour.

The cyclone which hit the city of two million people on Sunday afternoon, has literally torn the city apart by shattering all the vital installations, including the only airport. Even three days after the cyclone struck, normal life has hardly resumed. Rains were still continuing in the city and the surrounding areas.

With all the destruction, Visakhapatnam is presenting a picture of a ‘war zone’ as people are facing unprecedented scarcity of food, water, milk and other essential commodities. Even as the Army and other agencies are trying to help the civic administration and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu issuing a stern warning to hoarders and black marketers, prices of vegetables and other food items have sky-rocketed.

With Simhadri power plant shut down, the State is facing acute power shortages and is forced to seek help of the neighbouring States.As the roads were blocked by uprooted trees and electricity poles, public transportation remains paralysed.

City and its surrounding areas continue to be plunged in darkness as thousands of electricity poles have been uprooted. People are desperate to know the well being of their near and dear ones but the telecommunication system too was knocked out as the towers were brought down by the most powerful winds the region has ever seen.

The winds at the time of cyclone crossing the coast had gust to almost 200 kms per hour. Officials estimated that in the worst ever natural calamity to befall on this region, property and infrastructure worth Rs1 lakh crore might have been damaged. C Kutumba Rao, vice-chairman, State Planning Commission said that a new methodology will be required to assess the damage to the city. “repair of roads itself will require several thousand crores”, he said.

Number of houses damaged fully or partially was put in several thousand but exact figure will be available only after enumeration. 

City has lost its green cover as 70 to 80 per cent of its trees were uprooted. Roads in many parts of Visakhpatanam and neighbouring districts of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam were badly damaged as very heavy rains and resultant flood washed them away.

Andhra University, another landmark of the city, has been closed down for two weeks. However in the first sign of semblance of normalcy returning to the city, South Central Railway announced restoring most of the trains going out of Visakhapatnam. Except Visakha Garibrath all the trains from Vizag to Secunderabad were being restored, a press release by SCR said.

The train service to the region was cancelled since Saturday on the eve of the cyclone. But most part of the city was still without power. Such is the extent of the damage that the State Government has sought the help of Karnataka in this task.

On Tuesday there were long queues at the petrol pumps and the ATMs. Though the authorities assured the people that they had sufficient stock of fuel to last 15 days, still desperate consumers made a beeline.

But Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed confidence that the situation will return to normal by Tuesday evening. He warned the officials who were not working round the clock to bring the normalcy. “We will ensure that Visakhapatnam becomes a normal place by this evening”, he told the media.

He warned that if the Government officials and telephone operators don’t attend their work immediately, he will send the police to bring them to their offices. He was unhappy with the operators not attending their duties.

Issuing a stern warning to the traders against exploiting the situation, he said that onions will be available at Rs5 per kg and vegetables at Rs3 per kg. “We are getting the supplies of vegetable from 5-6 districts”, he said.

Chief Minister said that irrespective of rich or poor, every family would get 25 kgs of rice, edible oil, kerosene oil and other essential commodities. In case of fishermen and weavers, 50 kgs rice will be supplied. Giving few glimpses of the gravity of the losses caused by the cyclone, the Chief Minister said that 40,000 electricity poles were uprooted. Indian Navy, which has its Eastern Naval Command in the city, suffered an estimated loss of Rs2,000 crore and Steel Plant suffered a loss of Rs350 crore, he said.

Visakhapatnam Airport had suffered a loss of Rs500 crore as the roof of the terminal was blown away completely and the runway was under floodwater. Officials said that it will take another week before the air service could be restored. Similarly the rooftop of Visakhapatnam Railway station was also badly damaged.

Chief Minister submitted a detailed report of losses with the number of houses damaged, and extent of crop loss to the Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday.While 200 heavy duty cranes and other equipment were deployed to remove the fallen trees to clear the roads, 150 tankers were requisitioned from other districts to supply drinking water.

The Chief Minister, who undertook an aerial survey of the city and surrounding areas found thousands of acres of standing crop wilted under water.