There was a very short last minute alert that the tracking of the Hud Hud Cyclone would actually hit the coast at Visakhapatnam. I had gone to Muniguda the previous day as normally the cyclones hit far more north in places like Berhampur and Puri where we have leprosy colony care programmes. When I heard that the path had changed and Visakhapatnam had been struck I was stunned. However we had made basic plans on the possibility that we may suffer strong winds and that possibly highways would be blocked north of us. We purchased longer shelf life vegetables and had vegetables growing. It was just as well we had done this. We always have diesel in store for the generator and tarpaulins if needed.

There was a very short last minute alert that the tracking of the Hud Hud Cyclone would actually hit the coast at Visakhapatnam. I had gone to Muniguda the previous day as normally the cyclones hit far more north in places like Berhampur and Puri where we have leprosy colony care programmes. When I heard that the path had changed and Visakhapatnam had been struck I was stunned. However we had made basic plans on the possibility that we may suffer strong winds and that possibly highways would be blocked north of us. We purchased longer shelf life vegetables and had vegetables growing. It was just as well we had done this. We always have diesel in store for the generator and tarpaulins if needed.

• To replace the loss and damage roof of Goat & Chicken House needs 40 sheets, each sheet costs $30.
• The Cow shed, which is in ruins needs 42 sheets of different type and costs $15 each.
• To clean up the Community Centre and means taking trees from Power lines needs total $490.

Hud Hud Cyclone Relief The irony that I had come to Muniguda only to find the reality was where I had just left. Trains stopped for 4 days and roads closed and there was no communication with Visakhapatnam. It is incredible that less than 100 people died in the whole area of the cyclone area.

The destruction to our community centre is almost too hard to describe. We lost 6 of our biggest and oldest mango trees. Our ‘Mother Mango Tree’ under which children play, guest sit in awe at its size stands almost alone and without a leaf. The loss of the other 5 fruit bearing mango trees, the total loss of our Papaya, Drum Stick vegetable tree and our Curry leaf tree and all vegetables in the Roellis Garden is painful to see.

Our Cowman turned the cows out in the storm and they went and stood and then sat in the playground. The cow shed roof flew off. A tree hit the goat house and its damage is hard to explain. The whole roof got knocked off centre and then damaged. Vasu who many of you know from emails had just supervised and worked on a new chicken house project and it ‘flew away’!

The damage to the school structure was minimal.  There are no formal classes this week but the children are organized with ‘home work’ and studies. There is very limited lighting at night as we use the generator as minimally as possible due to the cost and shortage of diesel. Unfortunately the solar system was damaged – actually the electrical inverter and batteries, in one Home and in two others the panels have been damaged. The simple room that Babu and his wife and child have at the side of the First Aid Centre lost its roof. They had shifted to the First Aid main building prior to the storm. The couples who look after the goats and help in the garden were fortunate not to be hurt as they had a feeling to leave the cottage. Its roof crumbled and its destruction tells me the might of the 160 miles per hour cyclone that went on for 36 hours.

After months of hard and rather stressful work getting the Bio-gas anaerobic digester to produce gas we lost all the gas as the tin sheet covering made to protect the dome from monsoon rain cracked the gas outlet pipe and blew off. The day prior to fitting new stove burners into the kitchen.

Hud Hud Cyclone Relief