Eight dead as Hudhud hits India's eastern coast

More than 1,000 rescue workers and soldiers cleared piles of uprooted trees and electricity poles blocking roads yesterday after Cyclone Hudhud slammed into India's eastern coast, leaving at least 24 dead.

Rescuers readied dozens of boats, helicopters and other aircraft to carry out relief operations once they obtained a clearer idea of the extent of damage in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states.

Weather forecasters downgraded Hudhud to a tropical depression as it moved further inland on a course north-northwest of the city of Visakhapatnam, where it made landfall on Sunday. However, they warned that heavy rainfall would lash parts of six Indian states.

At least 400,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas of the states ahead of the storm, and hundreds of shelters were set up.

While India has a disastrous record of response to natural calamities, it managed last October to safely evacuate nearly a million people from the path of Cyclone Phailin, the strongest tropical storm to hit India in more than a decade. Phailin destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of crops but claimed only about 40 lives.

Visakhapatnam, a major naval base, bore the brunt of Hudhud's fury, with downed electricity poles, uprooted trees and massive debris strewn in the streets. Electricity was disconnected in parts of Andhra Pradesh to avoid electrocutions.