Cyclone Arnab forms over the Bay of Bengal, IMD issues red message for Andhra Pradesh coast

The deep depression over the Bay of Bengal intensified into Cyclonic Storm Arnab (pronounced “Ornab”) early on Monday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, issuing a cyclone warning with a red message for Andhra Pradesh and the adjoining south Odisha coast.

At 8.30 am on Monday, the storm lay about 610 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam, 580 km southeast of Gopalpur in Odisha and 690 km east-southeast of Kakinada, after moving westwards at 15 kmph over the previous six hours.

“It is very likely to move west-northwestwards and intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm over westcentral Bay of Bengal by midnight of today, the 26th October and into a very severe cyclonic storm over the same region on 27th October,” the IMD said on X.

The IMD expects Arnab to then turn northwestwards and cross the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to Yanam, by the forenoon of 28 October, with maximum sustained winds of 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph.

Isolated extremely heavy rainfall is likely over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam on 27 and 28 October, over Odisha on 28 October, and over Chhattisgarh on 28 and 29 October, the IMD said. Squally weather is expected to begin along and off the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts from the morning of 27 October.

The IMD’s national bulletin warned that a storm surge of 1.0 to 1.5 metres above the astronomical tide is very likely to flood low-lying areas of Andhra Pradesh at the time of landfall, with the highest surge expected in East Godavari district near Kakinada and in Yanam. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the west-central and adjoining parts of the Bay of Bengal from 26 to 28 October.

On the Kakinada coast, fishing boats have already been called back. “Above 4,800 boats which are involved in the marine fishing in the Bay of Bengal off Kakinada coast have returned from the sea and anchored at their respective harbour and landing centres by Monday,” Kakinada District Fisheries Officer V. Krishna Rao told The Hindu.

In Odisha, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday deputed eight ministers to vulnerable districts as the state government mobilised personnel and equipment, The Hindu reported.

As The Indian Idiot reported earlier, the system formed as a depression over the Bay of Bengal on the evening of Saturday, 24 October. Our explainer from Sunday sets out the IMD’s timeline and the areas in its path.