Cyclone Arnab weakened to a severe cyclonic storm after crossing the Andhra Pradesh coast, with two people reported killed by electrocution, roads and power lines damaged, and dozens of trains and flights cancelled.
Cyclone Arnab weakened from a very severe cyclonic storm to a severe cyclonic storm after crossing the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts on Wednesday morning, with two people reported killed by electrocution as the storm damaged roads, trees and power lines.
The India Meteorological Department said the storm crossed the coast between 2 a.m. and 8 a.m., southwest of Yanam near latitude 16.45 degrees north and longitude 81.90 degrees east, about 20 kilometres east-northeast of Narsapur, 40 kilometres southwest of Yanam and 60 kilometres southwest of Kakinada. Several locations recorded more than 200 millimetres of rain, with Kannuripalem in Anakapalli recording 261.5 millimetres. Fallen trees and electric poles blocked roads and disrupted power supply, and low-lying areas were inundated.
The two deaths were reported in separate electrocution incidents. A 53-year-old man died on Tuesday night in Visakhapatnam district after coming into contact with a live wire that had snapped over an agricultural field channel. A 55-year-old woman died on Wednesday morning in Yellamanchili town in Anakapalli district after stepping on an exposed live wire outside her home, police said. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation on Wednesday morning in a teleconference with 32,000 personnel and directed officials to clear roads blocked by fallen trees within two hours and restore power once strong winds subsided.
The landfall itself was already reported earlier in the day, and this story covers what changed after it: the first reported deaths, the weakening of the storm and the scale of disruption. The two deaths are reported by PTI and carried consistently across the PTI-based accounts used here. Earlier reports from the morning had said no loss of life had been recorded, which is consistent with the deaths being reported later as district accounts came in. A later aggregator summary put the toll at five, but that figure had not been confirmed in the official and PTI-based accounts used here, so this story reports the two deaths those accounts describe.
Transport took a heavy hit. South Coast Railway cancelled 57 trains and rescheduled 15 as a precaution, and flights at Visakhapatnam were suspended from the afternoon of October 27, with services at Vijayawada and Rajahmundry suspended after 7 p.m. that day. Air India and Air India Express reported cancellations on Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Vijayawada routes, and IndiGo suspended all Visakhapatnam services.
The danger has not fully passed. The weather department forecast the system would move north-northwestwards and weaken further into a cyclonic storm and then a deep depression over 48 hours, but heavy rainfall was expected to continue across coastal and adjoining districts on Wednesday and Thursday, and officials urged residents to stay away from fallen wires and waterlogged areas.