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The cyclonic storm Hudhud caused extensive damage to the power infrastructure in five districts of Odisha before weakening into a deep depression and crossing over to south Chhattisgarh.
Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Gajapati suffered the most damage to power distribution after the cyclone struck the Andhra Pradesh coast near Visakhapatnam on Sunday and moved inward into southern Odisha.
“The damage assessment report will be available in three days. More than 1,500 people are at work restoring power supply,” said Suresh C Mohapatra, Odisha’s principal secretary (energy).
Around 600 electricity poles and 20 power transformers were damaged as squalls uprooted trees. Transmission lines and grid sub-stations have survived the cyclonic storm. Electricity is expected to be restored in all blocks of the five districts by Monday.
The state government has dispatched 30 fire service teams to Andhra Pradesh. “Each fire service team is under the charge of a deputy fire services officer. Of the 30 teams, 20 will be deployed in Visakhapatnam district and 10 in Srikakulam district,” said Deputy Relief Commissioner Pravat Ranjan Mohapatra.
Two teams of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, 120 mechanised tree cutters and 60 inflatable tower lights have also been dispatched for rescue operations in Andhra Pradesh.
“I had a detailed review of the damage caused by the cyclone in the affected districts. Energy infrastructure has been badly damaged in the Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts. We are hopeful of restoring power supply to more than 90 per cent of areas by this evening. Crop loss assessment and other damage assessment will be done very shortly,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said.
The latest bulletin by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) says the cyclone, which has turned into a deep depression, will move to the north and north-northeast. It will weaken into a depression in the next six hours and into a well-marked low pressure area in the subsequent 12 hours.
Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is forecast over Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh and interior Odisha during the next 24 hours and over east Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar in the next 48 hours.
