Cyclone Arnab crosses Andhra coast near Yanam and Kakinada with gusts up to 150 kmph; 1.3 lakh moved

Maximum sustained winds were 125 to 135 kmph, with gusts of up to 150 kmph. The weather office warned of a storm surge of 1.5 to 2.5 metres above the normal tide in low-lying coastal areas, with the highest surge near Yanam and Kakinada. It said the storm should weaken quickly once it moves inland, though heavy rain could continue for several hours.

Evacuations and the first impact

In Andhra Pradesh, 84,396 people were moved to about 290 shelters. In Odisha, about 48,000 people were evacuated from high-risk areas. More than 30,000 fishing boats were brought back to shore, and 93 boats from Andhra Pradesh that were at Gopalpur in Odisha were reported safe with their crews.

The Andhra Pradesh districts that were expected to be significantly affected are Konaseema, Eluru, West Godavari, Manyam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Kakinada. Trees were uprooted on National Highway 216 near Yanam, and giant waves flooded roads and houses at Ennore in Chennai. Strong winds were reported at Gopalpur in Odisha's Ganjam district and in Konaseema district.

One death was reported on Tuesday, when a 65-year-old man came into contact with snapped live electricity wires at Mangalapalem. No other deaths had been reported in the accounts available on Wednesday morning, but the full extent of damage was not yet known.

Response on the ground

The National Disaster Response Force, the state disaster response force, the Navy and the Coast Guard were placed on alert. Control rooms in Andhra Pradesh are working round the clock and issuing bulletins every hour. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and state disaster officials said that response teams were deployed, and residents of coastal and low-lying areas were asked to stay indoors and follow official instructions. Fishing was suspended, schools were closed in high-risk districts and trains on the affected routes were cancelled.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation said that flights to and from coastal Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha, including Bhubaneswar, were likely to see the most disruption, with knock-on delays possible at Hyderabad, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur. Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights with the airlines.

In the weather office's scale, a very severe cyclonic storm has sustained winds of about 118 to 166 kmph. The storm surge is the rise in sea level that the wind pushes onto the coast, and it is often the most dangerous part of a cyclone for low-lying villages, because water can move far inland within minutes and arrives on top of the normal tide. This is why the authorities moved people out of the coastal strip before the storm arrived, even in places where the wind itself would not have destroyed homes.

The weather office warned of isolated extremely heavy rain over coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam and Odisha on 27 and 28 October, and over Chhattisgarh on 28 October. It also forecast heavy rain for Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh from 28 October to 1 November. In Odisha, heavy rain was expected in parts of the state, with Malkangiri district named in one report.

People in affected districts should stay away from the coast, from broken electricity lines and from trees and hoardings that have loosened, and should not return to low-lying areas until the authorities say it is safe. Anyone who finds a fallen live wire should keep away and report it to the electricity department or the control room. Travellers should check train and flight status before leaving home.

Damage assessments, the number of people who stay in shelters and the restoration of power and roads are the next things to watch, and the figures are likely to change through the day.