Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are preparing to evacuate thousands of people ahead of Cyclone Arnab, with Andhra Pradesh identifying 570,000 people as vulnerable and evacuations starting on Monday evening before an expected October 28 landfall.
Two states on India's eastern coast are preparing to evacuate thousands of people ahead of Cyclone Arnab, which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday. Andhra Pradesh has identified 570,000 people as vulnerable, and a senior state disaster-management official told Reuters that evacuations would start on Monday evening. Odisha has closed schools and colleges in five districts for Tuesday and Wednesday and is preparing to move residents of low-lying areas to cyclone shelters.
The India Meteorological Department said the storm was centred over the east-central Bay of Bengal on Monday morning, about 650 kilometres east-southeast of Visakhapatnam, and moving west-northwest at about 15 kilometres per hour. It is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm by midnight on Monday and into a very severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday, before crossing the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam on the forenoon of October 28, with sustained winds of 115 to 125 kilometres per hour gusting to 140.
Andhra Pradesh has called for boats at sea to return ashore and ordered speedy restoration of power in case of disruption, while the weather office warned of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall for the northern and central coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has instructed officials to remain alert and take precautionary measures, with a focus on protecting people and reducing loss of life.
The landfall forecast and wind speeds are the meteorological department's bulletin as quoted by several outlets, and the evacuation figures are state officials' statements reported by Reuters. Forecasts for a storm three days from landfall can still shift in track and strength, and the bulletin itself describes the landfall window as a forenoon crossing, not a fixed hour.
The Bay of Bengal is one of the world's most cyclone-prone regions, and the timing of this storm, at the end of October, puts it in the season when storms curving toward the Andhra-Odisha coast carry the greatest risk to low-lying districts. The next bulletin, due on Tuesday, will show whether Arnab holds its forecast track toward Bapatla and Visakhapatnam or drifts, and that will decide how many of the 570,000 people identified as vulnerable are actually moved.