Severe Cyclone Arnab Threatens Andhra Pradesh Coast With Massive Evacuations

Indian authorities began evacuating residents from low-lying coastal areas in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday as a severe storm system named Cyclone Arnab advanced toward the eastern coast.

The India Meteorological Department reported that the storm lay centered over the Bay of Bengal and was forecast to make landfall between Bapatla and Visakhapatnam by the forenoon of Oct. 28.

Forecasters warned that the severe cyclonic storm would bring maximum sustained wind speeds between 115 and 125 kilometers per hour, with gusts reaching 140 kilometers per hour at landfall.

Prakhar Jain, the managing director of the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, said officials were moving people living in vulnerable kutcha houses in coastal districts into emergency shelters.

Jain said the storm's heaviest impact was expected across nine coastal districts, including Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Krishna, while southern districts like Tirupati and Nellore faced lower risks.

To prepare for the landfall, state officials deployed 12 battalions of the State Disaster Response Force and seven National Disaster Response Force teams while requesting three additional national units.

The weather service issued red warnings for extremely heavy rainfall across several coastal districts on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28, warning that severe downpours could significantly disrupt normal life.

According to the Times of India, yellow alerts for isolated heavy rain were active in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram on Monday before escalating to red alerts in districts such as East Godavari and Eluru.

The depression intensified into a deep depression roughly 420 kilometers north-northwest of Sri Vijaya Puram in the Andaman Islands on Sunday morning, ABP Live reported.

Meteorologists instructed fishermen operating in the Bay of Bengal to return to the shore immediately as sea conditions deteriorated ahead of the storm's arrival.

The weather agency cautioned that heavy rainfall from the system would also extend beyond coastal Andhra Pradesh into neighboring states, including Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and East Madhya Pradesh.

Disaster management officials said precise details regarding the landfall location and storm intensity would become clearer after the cyclonic system fully forms over the Bay of Bengal on Monday.