Very severe cyclonic storm Arnab's outer band reached the Andhra Pradesh coast on Tuesday night, with complete landfall expected between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on October 28 near Yanam and 84,396 people already evacuated to 290 shelters.
Very severe cyclonic storm Arnab is no longer just offshore. Its outer band reached the Andhra Pradesh coast on Tuesday night, and the state disaster management authority confirmed complete landfall is expected between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam, close to the south of Yanam.
At 5:30 p.m. IST on October 27, the India Meteorological Department placed the storm about 90 km southeast of Kakinada, 170 km south-southwest of Visakhapatnam and 170 km east-northeast of Machilipatnam, moving west-northwest at 18 kmph over the previous six hours. Landfall winds are forecast at 125 to 135 kmph, gusting to 150 kmph, with a storm surge of 1 to 2 metres above the astronomical tide expected near Kakinada and Yanam.
The human scale of the preparation is now clear. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu confirmed 290 cyclone shelters have been activated and 84,396 people evacuated, up from the 50,000 reported on Tuesday morning, while more than 30,000 fishing boats have been brought back to shore. Rainfall since 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday was very heavy at 28 locations and heavy at 133 places, and Srikakulam could receive up to 30 cm of rain, West Godavari up to 28 cm and Visakhapatnam up to 23 cm.
The latest bulletin figures supersede the morning forecast, which had put landfall winds lower, at 115 to 125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph, and had placed the storm about 300 km from Visakhapatnam. The later bulletins from the meteorological department, carried by two independent outlets, agree on the higher wind range and the narrowed overnight landfall window, and the earlier landfall timing of the forenoon of October 28 has been brought forward as the storm advanced faster than anticipated.
The districts facing the most severe impact are Konaseema, Eluru, West Godavari, Manyam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and Kakinada, and the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force, Navy and Coast Guard are deployed on high alert. Residents in coastal villages, island settlements and flood-prone zones have been urged to move to shelters and stay indoors, and the landfall itself, early on Wednesday, will show whether the surge and rainfall forecasts hold.