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Cyclone Arnab Crosses Andhra Coast In Six-Hour Landfall Killing At Least Eight

Edited by IndianRepublic.in - Location: Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Cyclone Arnab came ashore on India’s southeastern coast in a prolonged landfall lasting six hours early on Wednesday, killing at least eight people, uprooting tens of thousands of trees and cutting power across coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh.

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The storm crossed the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coastline between 2am and 8am, passing some 20 kilometres east-northeast of Narsapur and about 60 kilometres southwest of Kakinada. It arrived as a very severe cyclonic storm, with sustained winds of 125 to 135 kilometres an hour gusting to 150, and weakened to a severe cyclonic storm once inland. Forecasters expected it to decay into a deep depression within hours and to track north-northwest.

The state government put the death toll at five, most of them from electrocution after power lines came down, along with a wall collapse and a falling palm tree. Local reporting counted as many as eight dead across the coastal districts, including deaths earlier in the week. The figures had not been reconciled by Wednesday evening.

Damage was spread across more than ten districts. Around 50,000 trees were brought down in the two worst-hit districts alone, among them 33,000 coconut palms, and some 15,000 electricity poles were uprooted. Power had been restored everywhere except two districts by Wednesday evening, with outages in parts of the coast running beyond a day. Thousands of acres of standing paddy were flattened. A stretch of coastal road near Kakinada was washed away entirely, and a cargo vessel was stranded offshore in heavy seas.

More than 200 millimetres of rain fell at several places in three northern coastal districts in the 20 hours to early Wednesday, with the heaviest station recording just over 260 millimetres. Visakhapatnam city took more than 200 millimetres in a day, flooding low-lying areas.

Over 20,000 people had been moved to safety before the storm arrived. Around 30,000 state employees were assigned to relief work and some 40 national disaster response teams were deployed along the eastern seaboard.

The state announced rice, cooking oil, onions and pulses for affected households, with larger allocations for weavers and fishing families, and cash payments for those who sheltered in relief camps. A full relief package was to be decided on Thursday. The state has asked the federal government to send a team to assess the damage.

Forecasters warned of a moderate to high risk of flash flooding across thirteen districts into Thursday morning, with isolated heavy rain expected in three northern districts during the day. Neighbouring Odisha reported limited damage.

One consequence of the storm was agricultural relief rather than loss. Andhra Pradesh’s rainfall shortfall for the season narrowed from 39 per cent to 27 per cent.

In Kerala, on the opposite coast, rain eased as the cyclone came ashore and daytime temperatures began climbing, with several places running three to four degrees above normal. Two systems over the Bay of Bengal in the second half of October had already closed most of the state’s northeast monsoon deficit, leaving it about 3 per cent short of normal. 

A fresh circulation over the south Andaman Sea is expected to produce another low-pressure area within a day though forecasters do not expect significant rain over Kerala in the coming week.

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