Cyclonic Storm Hudhud raged through the province of Andhra Pradesh on India’s East Coast on October 12^th with wind speeds of 109 mph, causing what initial estimates say could be as much as 70,000 crore rupees (11 billion US dollars) in damages and killing at least 84 people.

The cyclone has uprooted trees and electrical poles and left many without food, water, and power. It also hit the ISKCON complex in the city of Visakhapatnam to devastating effect.

The cyclon seriously damaged the Visakhapatnam ISKCON center

“Our temple hall, kitchen, book warehouse, homeopathic clinic, guest house reception and windows, water tanks, and main gate have all been extensively damaged,” says president Samba Das. “So have several vehicles, our air conditioning system, and electrical systems.”

The ayurvedic clinic after the storm

Meanwhile the community’s gift shop, dioramas, temple shed, and goshala (cow shelter) are all broken, and the goshala’s boundary wall has collapsed.

The goshalla destroyed

Fortunately, all the devotees are safe, as are the Deities of Sri Sri Radha Damodar, Jagannath Baladeva Subhadra, and Laksmi Nrismha, while the cows have been moved to the guest house.

The Deities stand safe in the middle of the destroyed temple room 

But although no devotees have been harmed, the situation isn’t easy for them.

“The whole city is devastated – it looks like a war zone,” Samba says. “Most trees, electrical poles and telephone poles are uprooted. There is no electricity, and there are long lines everywhere for essentials like water, food, and diesel.”

The guest house reception

Luckily, phone lines were restored on October 14^th, so devotees are now contactable.

No details about how to donate or otherwise assist the situation have been shared yet. ISKCON News will follow up with further news as it arrives.

For details on how to contact ISKCON Visakhapatnam, please visit http://www.iskconcenters.com/visakhapatnam/