Cyclone Hudhud to hit Vishakapatnam by 12 Oct: Here's all you need to know

A severe cyclonic storm, named Hudhud is heading towards Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. According to the MET department it will hit the two states by 12 October. India is gearing up to face the situation. The range of the cyclone has now been narrowed down [caption id=“attachment_1748035” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday said that the state government is fully prepared for the possible eventuality. Here is all you need to know about the cyclone: - According to The Hindustan Times, “Hudhud will cross the North Andhra Pradesh coast around Vishakapatnam by 12 October forenoon, according to the India Meterological Department.” - The cyclone crossed the area between Port Blair and Long Island of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago on Wednesday, with winds gusting at 67 kmph. - The wind speed range is expected to be 130-140 kmph and may gust up to 155 kmph. - IMD’s Cyclonic Warning Division said that the landfall will be in the range of 200 km (between Visakhapatnam and Gopalpur) and the cyclone size is about 500 km. - The IMD chief said “heavy rainfall” to “very heavy rainfall” at few places would commence over Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam districts of North coastal Andhra and Ganjam, Puri and Khurda districts of Odisha from 11 October. - The MET department has advised fishermen not to venture into the sea and asked those who have ventured into deep sea to return immediately. - The Met office advised hoisting of storm warning of distant cautionary signal number two (DC-II) by replacing the earlier distant warning signal number one (DW-I) at Paradip and Gopalpur Ports in Odisha. - People in Odisha are stocking essential items as the cyclonic storm is expected to hit Andhra Pradesh and coastal Odisha. - The NDRF chief on Wednesday said that one battalion each in West Bengal and Bihar were on alert and could be airlifted anytime if required. The two states will be provided with satellite phones and an NDRF control room would be set up by tomorrow to deal with the situation - Four teams of the NDRF have left for Visakhapatnam and they would be further repositioned based on the request made by the two state governments. - Hudhud will be the second major cyclone after Phailin, which hit the eastern coast in October last year. With agency inputs