The armed forces on Wednesday stated that they will now focus their relief operations in Vishakhapatnam, the worst affected district by Cyclone Hudhud, which hit the Indian coast on Sunday.
The relief operations, under the code-name 'Op Lehar', will see relief material, especially food packets and readymade food airlifted by aircrafts and helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) from Vijayawada and Rajamundry. In addition, three community kitchens are also being run by naval authorities at Visakhapatnam and two each at Bhimunipatnam, Arakapalli, Visakhapatnam Airport and Seetamdhra.
The roads from the Vishakhapatnam Naval Base and Bhimunipatnam to Visakhapatnam city have now been cleared with the help of army and naval teams. The clearance of the arterial roads from Visakhapatnam city to NH-5 is under progress. The naval airfield at INS Dega and the naval port are now fully functional.
So far, the army has rescued a total of 272 people and the IAF has flown a total of 50 sorties to airlift 144.5 tonnes of relief material to Visakhapatnam and other affected areas.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had arrived in Vishakhapatnam to review the rescue and relief work in the wake of the cyclone's devastation in the state, which has left at least 24 people dead. He also announced a package of Rs two lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.