Cyclone Hudhud: Navy's Operation Lehar in full swing

HYDERABAD: A day after Cyclone Hudhud battered the Andhra coast, the Indian Navy launched 'Operation Lehar', a massive search and rescue operation, to assess the damage and rush help to areas still reeling under the effect of the devastating storm.

The country's defence crisis management group nominated the Navy to undertake the lead rescue and relief operations in Andhra Pradesh and adjoining Odisha. A top Navy official said that apart from eight ships carrying relief materials, one P8I and another Dornier aircraft were pressed into service early on Monday to take stock of the damage and begin relief work.

Later, the Indian Air Force began picking up food packets from Rajahmundry and Vijayawada and dropping it in the affected areas of Vizag. The NDRF too pressed 42 rescue and relief teams, which successfully shifted as many as 11,853 people in Vizag, Vizianagaram and East Godavari district to safer places, officials said. Two NDRF teams were asked to move towards Srikakulam by road from Odisha. They have also starting clearing the trees and repairing the roads.

During the day, the Eastern Naval Command assessed the destruction wreaked by the cyclone at its own naval base. "Our airfield at INS Dega was flooded after the storm hit us hard. Our officers and men at the base are trying hard to get the base to operational status," said a senior navy official from Visakhapatnam. "One can see the trail of destruction everywhere. About 60% of the trees have been uprooted at the base and as a result, all the roads are blocked. The damage is unimaginable," the officer said, adding that they are working overtime to get both runways ready for operation.

As the cyclone uprooted electric poles and snapped lines, power supply to the base was also disrupted. "All BSNL lines, Rukmani and INMARSAT were not operational. We faced a very tough time," another official said. However, later on Monday, communication link was established between the Maritime Operations Centre (MOC), Vishakhapatnam, and the communication centre in New Delhi.

Meanwhile, in the national capital, the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary Ajit Seth, reviewed the situation in the affected districts of Andhra Pradesh.

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