Hudhud rips through Visakhapatnam airport

HYDERABAD: It may take a few more days for the air services to be restored at the Visakhapatnam airport what with the radar and navigational aids battered by Cyclone Hudhud. The runway is under a sheet of water and also the roof of the airport having been partially ripped apart by the 195-kmph cyclone on Sunday afternoon. Presently only heavy military choppers are able to land in the marooned airport. Sources said the authorities want to make the airport functional, but it will be more than a week before the passenger terminals are brought back to shape.

Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju is expected to fly to Bhubaneswar from Delhi on Tuesday and take the road to the Port City to assess the damage. This is even as two teams of civil aviation technicians and other Airport Authority of India officials flew out from Chennai and Hyderabad respectively on Monday to travel to Visakhapatnam. The teams flew to Rajahmundry and travelled 180 km to Visakhapatnam from there by road. The distance from Bhubaneswar to Visakhapatnam is nearly 400 km by road. The road was strewn with fallen trees but by Monday evening they were partially removed to allow traffic movement.

Hundreds of trees have been uprooted in north coastal Andhra districts and in Visakhapatnam city itself. The road from Rajahmundry to Visakhapatnam reported heavy traffic jams with trucks lined up for kilometres on end and trees strewn all over.

Visakhapatnam airport, which is Navy-owned, is in a low-lying area and a lot of rainwater is accumulated in front of the airport. Till a few years ago the airport would frequently be inundated after the rains and only after a massive landfill exercise has this problem been resolved in the last two years.

Though Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had been planning since Sunday to fly into Visakhapatnam, he was able to do so only on Monday evening. In the morning all that he could manage was an aerial survey of the city. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Visakhapatnam on Tuesday but how will he touch down in the ravaged city remains anyone's guess.

There has been a demand for new airport for Visakhapatnam for the last few years with the Navy flexing its muscle in not allowing new flights. Though now international flights also fly out of Visakhapatnam, till a few years ago the airport did not even have landing facilities beyond sunset.

http://ift.tt/1qVg3xf airport,Cyclone Hudhud,battered by Cyclone Hudhud

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