Cyclone Arnab crosses the Andhra coast near Narsapur and weakens; deaths reported as trees and power lines come down

Cyclone Arnab crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between 2 am and 8 am on Wednesday (28 October) as a very severe cyclonic storm, with sustained winds of 125–135 kmph gusting to 150 kmph, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. It came ashore southwest of Yanam, about 20 km east-northeast of Narsapur, 40 km southwest of Yanam and 60 km southwest of Kakinada, and weakened into a severe cyclonic storm by 8.30 am.

“Latest observations indicate that the landfall process completed with the central region moving completely into land by 0800 hrs IST,” IMD said in a post on X. It said the storm was very likely to move north-northwestwards over the next 48 hours and weaken gradually, first into a cyclonic storm and then into a deep depression.

Officials have given differing death tolls so far. Two people, including a 55-year-old woman, died of electrocution in separate incidents, PTI reported: a 53-year-old man in Visakhapatnam district on Tuesday night after touching a live wire that had snapped over a field channel, and a woman in Yellamanchili town in Anakapalli district on Wednesday morning after stepping on an exposed live wire outside her home.

Narendra Singh Bundela, a senior official of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), put the figure at three. “Andhra Pradesh has been most affected ... three people have lost their lives,” he told reporters, Reuters reported. Officials in the chief minister’s office told the agency that two of the deaths were caused by a falling tree and electrocution. Neighbouring Odisha was not as badly affected, Bundela said.

In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said heavy rain and high winds had destroyed at least 180 houses, brought down 220 trees and disrupted power supply in several areas, according to Reuters.

Kakinada Superintendent of Police G Bindu Madhav said the storm had uprooted “a few hundred trees and fewer than 100 electric poles”, though no major damage had been reported, and that the Uppada coastal road had been completely washed away. In Visakhapatnam district, about 400 trees fell, Collector M Abhishikth Kishore said. In Alluri Sitharama Raju district, an old bridge in Tadiguda village of Anantagiri mandal was washed away, cutting off a hamlet.

Rainfall of more than 200 mm was recorded at several places in Anakapalli, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts between 8.30 am on Tuesday and 4 am on Wednesday, IMD said. Kannuripalem in Anakapalli recorded the most, at 261.5 mm. Officials expect heavy rain to continue on Wednesday and Thursday.

Naidu held a teleconference with about 32,000 personnel on Wednesday morning and told officials to clear roads blocked by fallen trees within two hours, restore electricity once the winds subside, and keep food, drinking water and medical care ready at cyclone shelters. More than 84,000 people had been moved to shelters in Andhra Pradesh, and more than 180,000 were evacuated across Andhra Pradesh and Odisha ahead of the storm.

Several flights were cancelled or suspended at airports along the coast, and train services were also hit. As The Indian Idiot reported on Tuesday night, IMD had brought the landfall forward to the early hours of Wednesday because the storm was moving faster than expected.