Cyclone Hudhud to touch 195 kmph speed tomorrow morning, massive evacuation in progress
New Delhi: Hours before it makes its landfall near Visakhapatnam on Sunday noon, cyclone Hudhud will attain its top speed of 195 kmph early morning, the IMD said on Saturday.
The cyclone, which lay centred 250 km southwest of Visakhapatnam and 340 km south-southeast of Gopalpur at 2.30pm, will attain speed of 170-180 kmph around 5.30am on Sunday with winds gusting up to 195 kmph, a bulletin issued by the Indian Meteorological Department said here.
Read: Cyclone Hudhud races towards Andhra Pradesh: More than one lakh evacuated, trains cancelled
At around 11.30pm tonight, Hudhud will attain speed of 160-170 kmph with winds gusting up to 185 kmph.
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 during next 48 hours.
Read: Cyclone Hudhud: Sea pushes 20 feet into coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh
The warning said squally wind speed reaching 50-60 kmph gusting to 70 kmph would prevail along and off north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coasts during next 12 hours.
Meanwhile, the National Crisis Management Committee took stock of the preparedness of various state and central government agencies in view of cyclone 'Hudhud' which is expected to hit Andhra Pradesh and Odisha coasts on Sunday.
Read: Cyclone Hudhud threat: Chandrababu Naidu requests ISRO to provide satellite images
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 Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Read: Hudhud races toward Vishakhapatnam, coast on alert
"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 home ministry statement said here.
Read: Cyclone Hudhud: PM Modi to chair high-level review meeting
Apart from these measures, the statement said, a total of 39 NDRF teams comprising over 1,680 rescuers along with 199 inflatable rubber boats and other life saving equipments are deployed in various parts of these two states.
Read: Cyclone disrupts railways schedule
"The Indian Air Force helicopters are also on standby to meet any emergent situation," it said.
