Cyclone Hudhud caused Rs 21,908 crore loss, agriculture sector worst hit: Andhra government

The Hudhud cyclone that had hit Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh in October has caused a loss of Rs 21,908 crore, including damage to the tune of Rs 6,136 crore to private industries in the port city, the state government told the Legislative Assembly on Hyderabad.

Making a statement on Hudhud today, Deputy Chief Minister N China Rajappa said the human loss in the devastating cyclone which made a landfall on October 12 remained restricted to 61 due to "very effective" precautionary measures taken by the state government.

"Although the human loss could be minimised due to proactive and timely action by the government, enormous damage happened to the agriculture sector, resulting in crop loss of Rs 948 crore in 2.38 lakh hectares. The horticulture sector was also the worst hit with the loss estimated at Rs 1339.2 crore (87,984 ha)," the deputy chief minister said.

He said Housing sector suffered an overall loss of Rs 3,236 crore as the very severe cyclonic storm damaged 2,470 houses fully, 11,097 houses severely and 1.36 lakh houses partially.

Giving a break-up, Rajappa said while the Roads and Buildings Department suffered a loss of Rs 1111.80 crore, Panchayat Raj suffered loss of Rs 995 crore, Gram Panchayats (roads) Rs 410 crore and Municipal Administration Rs 3621.56 crore.

"Rural Water Supply and Sanitation suffered loss of Rs 127 crore, Irrigation Rs 317 crore, Power Sector Rs 1290 crore, AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (industrial parks) Rs 1,275 crore and private industries Rs 6,136 crore," the deputy chief minister said in the statement.

He said that a memorandum on the losses\damages was submitted to the Government of India. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the cyclone-ravaged Visakhapatnam on October 14, announced Rs 1,000 crore as advance for relief and restoration works and a sum of Rs 400 crore has so far been released by the Centre," Rajappa said.