Hudhud hits Andhra: Despair takes over ‘disconnected’ families

HYDERABAD: By Monday morning, the ferocious Hudhud had left Visakhapatnam for the northern leg of its journey in India. But the news failed to soothe the tense nerves of anxious family members, who, cooped up in their homes in various parts of the country, impatiently waiting for their telephones to ring and bring them news about their dear ones' safety, in the devastated city. With mobile networks continuing to remain erratic and landline connections snapping from time to time, the kin and kith were left in sheer despair, only praying that the cyclone hadn't been too harsh on their loved ones.

"The last I got in touch with my father and in-laws was at 10 am on Sunday. Since then, I have not heard from them," shared Ratnakar Sadasyula from Hyderabad, who spent all of Monday trying to get any possible update he could from Vizag, so as to gauge just how severe the situation was. His family resides in Visalakshinagar and MVP Colony. "I managed to get in touch with my uncle who said that the situation is extremely bad and the people are reeling under severe crisis of essentials. No milk, water, power," Sadasyula said.

In the eastern city of Kolkata, Aramita Banerjee and her family too spent restless moments, eagerly lapping up any information about the situation in Vizag. "My sister lives on the Beach Road there. While we did manage to speak with her over the landline on Sunday, we can't be at peace unless there is some normalcy restored in the city," Banerjee said over social media, adding, "She told us that buildings have been damaged and the situation on ground is quite severe. We are praying that she is safe."

Not as lucky were the family and friends of Subhomoy Datta, a second year student of Gitam University, who was 'not reachable' since Sunday. Desperate relatives failing to establish any communication with him, eventually turned to social networking to spread the message and appeal to people to inform them in case they had any news. "Subhamoy Datta 2yr MSc student from Gitam University. Not reachable since morning. If you know him please ask him to call his dad. Urgent," was a post by Geetanjali Dhar doing the rounds of Twitter all through Monday. Till late evening, there seemed to be no news of the boy.

Sadly though, theirs' was not the only story of helplessness.

http://ift.tt/1sCAJMJ the eastern city of Kolkata,Cyclone Hudhud

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