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Global spotlight on Hudhud

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Cyclone Hudhud headed for landfall in India: Nasa

About 100,000 evacuated as cyclone Hudhud bears down on east coast http://t.co/gyaYRb3N4z pic.twitter.com/mHRFdag7z6 — Reuters India (@ReutersIndia) October 11, 2014

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Amid preparation to face Hudhud, Phailin memory returns

Hudhud - 12:30pm, more intensification seen..! Pressure dropped even more 941.7mb. Winds almost reaching 200kmph. NE Andhra take care ! — Indian Weatherman (@weatherofindia) October 11, 2014

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Hudhud cyclone: Trains diverted

HYDERABAD: As Cyclone Hudhud is closing in on the Andhra Pradesh coastline and is expected to make a landfall near Visakhapatnam by Sunday afternoon, about 1.11 lakh people in five coastal districts have been shifted to safer places.The government has made arrangements to evacuate 5,14,725 people in all, officials said, while the Army and the Navy have kept their personnel on stand-by for rescue and relief operations.According to the reports received by the state disaster management commissioner A R Sukumar, 35,000 persons have been evacuated in Srikakulam district, 6,000 in Vizianagaram, 15,000 in Visakhapatnam, 50,000 in East Godavari and 5,000 in the West Godavari district.Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been reviewing the situation with top officials and requested the Isro to provide satellite images of Hudhud's course.In all, 436 villages across 64 mandals in the five districts have been identified as exposed to the threat of cyclone. The government has identified 370 relief camps for the evacuated people in these districts.A senior official of the disaster management department here said 13 NDRF teams have been deployed in the districts while the Indian Air Force is moving three helicopters from the Yelahanka air base to Visakhapatnam.Army personnel have been kept ready in Visakhapatnam, while the Eastern Naval Command has kept four ships on stand-by, equipped with rescue equipment and relief materials.Six aircraft are standing by at the Naval Air Station INS Dega to undertake reconnaissance, rescue, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief materials.The met department has warned that extensive damage to 'kutcha' houses, uprooting of big trees and partial disruption of power and communication lines and minor disruption of rail and road traffic are expected.The storm is now lying within the range of doppler weather radar at Visakhapatnam, it said in the morning.Accordingly, the cyclone lay centred at 0530 this morning about 330 km southeast of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 380 km south-southeast of Gopalpur in Odisha.Heavy to very heavy rainfall and squally winds are expected, the met department warned.The South Central Railway has announced cancellation of several trains including Tirupati-Puri-Secunderabad, Tirupati-Visakhapatnam, Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar-Tirupati, Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad and Visakhapatam-Nizamabad.The helpline numbers are 011-26107953, 09711077372.