Agencies/Visakhapatnam

The death toll from Cyclone Hudhud in India rose to at least 31 yesterday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the battered region and announced relief assistance of Rs10bn ($164mn).
The cyclone packing winds of around 195kmph hit land on the southeastern coast on Sunday, near the city of Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
The storm had weakened into a tropical depression after travelling inland and was being tracked near the borders of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India’s Meteorological Department said.
Collapsing houses and trees across Andhra Pradesh killed 25, disaster management officials said, with most of the victims being from Vishakapatnam, one of the largest cities in the region and home to a major naval base.
Three deaths were confirmed in the neighbouring state of Odisha and another three people died in Madhya Pradesh, according to NDTV network.
The Indian navy, which has its eastern headquarters in Vishakapatnam, suffered damage worth Rs20bn in the storm, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said.
The cyclone ripped apart tens of thousands of mud-and-thatch homes, flattened rice, banana and sugarcane plantations and snapped electricity lines.
In Visakhapatnam, home to 2mn people, residents formed long queues outside the few ATMs, petrol stations and stores which had reopened, despite a third day without electricity.
The high demand for items such as milk and drinking water, prompted some traders to hike up prices, sparking fears of shortages and some looting among cyclone survivors.
Television images showed mobs climbing into a government relief truck filled with food and water packets, scrambling to offload the heavy sacks, as policemen beat them with batons.
“We paid Rs50 ($0.87) for a half litre milk packet yesterday. Its actual price is only Rs20,” said 55-year-old labourer, V Amarnath, carrying groceries bought at a roadside shop.
Modi, who took an aerial survey over the area, announced Rs10bn to Andhra Pradesh for aid and reconstruction.
“It was the last harvest for the farmers, so there are a lot of losses for them. We’ll do a proper survey of agricultural losses and on property damages,” Modi told reporters.
“I have full faith that we will overcome the devastation caused by the storm and very soon things will go back to normal and we will take care of all those who have suffered losses.”
The full scale of the damage caused by Sunday’s cyclone is still not known, officials said. Hundreds of uprooted trees have blocked roads and phone lines are down, making it hard to determine how many people have been affected.
The Odisha government said preliminary surveys showed about 80,000 mud-and-thatch homes have been damaged, and infrastructure such as roads, culverts and bridges need repair.
Authorities in Andhra Pradesh said agricultural losses were high as winds and rains had lashed crops. Hundreds of livestock have been killed and scores of fishing boats damaged.
In Tamminaidupeta, a village in Srikakulam district, Seepana Srinivasarao said his three-acre rice plantation had flooded after the cyclone’s heavy rains caused a river to overflow.
“I lost all my crops. Only government compensation will bring some relief for me,” said Srinivasarao.
Visakhapatnam’s airport remained closed to commercial flights, after the roof of its main building was blown off.
Authorities say restoring power and telecommunications, and getting relief to affected communities was a priority.
Along the coast, government workers continued to clear roads of scores of uprooted trees, mangled electricity poles and sign boards torn from buildings by storm, while helicopters dropped food and water packets to villages further inland.
In rural areas, inhabitants cleared up thatch and mud debris strewn around their damaged homes and waited for help.
In Chelekapalam village in Srikakulam district, food stall owners P Ramanna and his wife P Mangavani stood behind a table on the roadside, trying to prepare a curry in a pan on a stove.
“Our stall was blown away. We found this table today lying a few metres away and opened our shop, but we are unable to prepare idli as there is no rice powder,” said Ramanna, referring to a traditional type of rice cake.